Domino’s Launches “The Think Oven” to Fire Up Customer Creativity

Blog post by: Melissa Ignasiak
One of the best and most successful ways for a company to improve their brand is to ask those who know them the best – the customers. This is exactly what Domino’s Pizza did when they launched the Think Oven earlier this year. When Domino’s set out to find new ideas on improving the business, they did not limit the ideas to internal meetings. Instead they engaged their customers in order to discover ways of improvement.
In the last few years, Domino’s launched ad campaigns that openly admitted to providing customers with bad pizza. They asked customers to send in photos, asked for feedback, and the CEO apologized on national television for the poor service. Once Domino’s began this culture of openness, their stock went from under $5 per share to over $30. However, just the feedback from photos and emails was not enough. Dominos wanted to launch a crowdsourcing feedback method that would allow customers to become engaged as part of the brand. As a result, the Think Oven was created.

Through the Domino’s Facebook page, fans could submit their ideas into two categories. The first was the Idea Box. This was used for general ideas such as new menu items, tips for going green, etc. The second category was for current projects, for example, new Domino’s uniforms. The best ideas submitted by the deadline were handpicked and rewarded with a prize of $500.
Throughout the campaign, Domino’s received over 10,000 ideas and reached over 1 million new Facebook fans. Because of this success, Domino’s has reopened the Think Oven on the Facebook page. Patrick Doyle, CEO of Domino’s Pizza, says “It really does make sense to get ideas from our customers. They have the best ideas. They know what they want Domino’s to be.” By continuing to engage fans in their culture of openness, Domino’s hopes to continue receiving creative and innovative ideas to become exactly what their customers want.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GKufakRcaQ
 
 
Sources:
http://www.fastcocreate.com/1679805/domino-s-fires-up-the-think-oven-to-tap-consumer-creativity
http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/04/08/behind-the-scenes-of-dominos-pizzas-think-oven-facebook-campaign/
http://www.simplyzesty.com/advertising-and-marketing/dominos-harnesses-social-media-community-feedback-with-think-oven/#
http://napkinlabs.com/wp-content/themes/NapkinLabs/documents/NL_Best_Practices_Guide.pdf