We know about the now infamous “Disgusting Dominos People” video. Finally, Domino’s responded publically about mid week. After reading some of the stories on the timing of and what Dominos did in response, I’d give the company a C. And, hopefully, as with my previous post, it’ll learn from its mistakes and do better next time — because there will be a next time.

Let’s look at what Domino’s did right, according to a New York Times article and from what I’ve found:

  • The company took immediate action and fired the employees Tuesday after first learning about it Monday evening and finding the location of the store Tuesday morning.
  • The company had one of the culprits send a company-wide email to apologize Tuesday morning. (I assume the email was “encouraged” by the company; not of her own doing.)
  • It contacted the local health and other officials in the store’s community.
  • It created and posted a video response on YouTube. The video included the necessary information: what you’ve done; what you’re going to do so it doesn’t happen again; guidelines already in place that make the situation an anomaly (Star Trek term slipping in there).
  • It opened a Twitter account to respond in real time to questions, provide information.

But, where did Domino’s fail?

It starts with this line from the NYT article:

As the company learned about the video on Tuesday, Mr. McIntyre said, executives decided not to respond aggressively, hoping the controversy would quiet down.

Excuse me?!

That comment clearly shows that Domino’s has no clue about social media. And, for a consumer-focused company, with franchises nearly everywhere, that alone should give its performance an F. Where the hell have you been the past few years?!

Here’s where Domino’s failed and needs to improve:

  • The public response was way, too slow. According to the NYT article, Domino’s was aware of the video Monday evening, knew the IDs of the people Tuesday morning. The YouTube didn’t come until Wednesday sometime. The Twitter account did not go live until 12:42 p.m. Wednesday.

    Lesson? Don’t wait to respond. Gauge situation to determine damage, decide what needs to be done and how/where to implement and REACT QUICKLY in the same venue — the public — where the original emergency occurred.

  • The video response was too corporate. Scott Monty first alerted me, among others to the Domino’s video — and tweeted an example of a crisis response video done right. Both videos are clearly professionally done — but the JetBlue one is clearly more comforting and more sincere.

    Lesson? In social media, it doesn’t have to be perfect — but it does have to be human, sincere, from the heart (not a script).

That’s my take on Domino’s latest social media crisis. What’s your’s?

-Mike