Dominos 'game changer' campaign backfires, causes outrage on social media

PIZZA chain unapologetic after their 'game changing' announcement turns out to be a massive anti-climax. Needless to say, social media users are not pleased.

IF YOU are going to launch a game changer, you need to actually change the game.

Pizza chain Dominos is suffering the ire of social media backlash after it promised to make a "game changing" announcement, “the biggest in 20 years”.

After running a series of teaser ads in prime time for more than a week, the company's CEO Don Meij appeared in an ad revealing that Dominos would be adding more pizza toppings to its menu. The new flavours include the ‘interesting’ combinations of shiraz lamb, chicken and cranberry, and BBQ duck and blue cheese.

Talk about an anti climax.

Naturally, users are outraged. And where do you turn during moments of peak anger? Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

One user @grievous1 wrote "@Dominos_AU take yourself seriously much? About as game changing as a new tea towel".

A YouTube commenter wrote: "Really? That's it? After 20 YEARS that's the biggest announcement you have to make?! You guys seriously need to move a huge chunk of your marketing money back into your product development because that was sh*te," one viewer wrote.

"YOU HAD US ON THE EDGE OF OUR SEATS FOR THIS?" another user wrote on Domino's Facebook page.

"This is not a game changer, What a waste of my time," another user wrote.

Dominos CEO Don Meij told news.com.au that the company had nothing to apologise for.

"We are always going to listen to customers," he said. "If that was the case and if they're disappointed we'll apologise and correct the situation but that's not what's happening so far. We're the fifth largest Facebook brand in Australia. We've had significant feedback from people quoting other pizza shops."

"If in a few days time the feedback found it was incorrect then of course we would apologise but we don't think it is."

The CEO said the term "game changer" was added to the campaign because "it came out of the mouths of focus groups".

"The words 'game change' came out of focus groups where it was said repeatedly. These are customer words," he said.

Dominos is also being accused of deleting negative comments of its Facebook page.

"I like Dominos but they deleted my comment too, all I said was I think the hype around this for a few small changes isn't game changing to me ... everyone is allowed to have an opinion!" one user wrote.

Mr Meij said the only time Dominos removes content from its Facebook page is if it contains racist content, if it uses profanity or if a team member releases commercially sensitive information.

"One of the great things about our company is that we're transparent," he said. "We listen. People know they can give us a voice."

Advertising standards require companies to be diligent in their social media duties. A ruling by the Advertising Standards Bureau in August made brands responsible for the content written by fans on their page.

Consumers may not have been impressed by the stunt but investors must have been. The company's stock price topped a record high today, increasing by 1.3 per cent to $11.70.

Follow on Twitter: @ClaireRPorter