Domino’s Pizza is famous industry-wide for its technology-driven customer experience — from inventing the Pizza Tracker in 2008, to rolling out robot delivery vehicles in 2021 — alongside its creative coupons and deals, like boost weeks. For chief brand officer Kate Trumbull, marketing success at the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based pizza chain hinges on the company’s convenience and value-focused branding. Her job is to repackage and present those differentiators through fresh and creative ideas.
Trumbull joined Domino’s in 2011 and has risen through the ranks from program leader of Hispanic marketing to senior vice president of brand and product innovation. She was promoted to chief brand officer in March 2023, and since then has led some of the company’s more creative branding wins, from launching Pinpoint Delivery (which allows people to order pizza “anywhere”), to a revamp of the Domino’s Rewards program last fall.
“Value is number one, and craveability, because at the end of the day, no matter who you are in this industry, if you don’t have a great product — and I would argue we have the best product — then what do you have?” Trumbull said. “It’s about making sure your base offerings are the best in your industry, and then it's about how do you innovate and bring new, high-quality products to life in your advertising and digital. Ultimately, when the average customer sees something they crave, that’s going to motivate them.”
Trumbull considers her biggest marketing win to be the Emergency Pizza promotion, which initially offered $1 million of pizza to Americans with student loans once repayments began to kick in.
“We really knew people were feeling out of control, like nothing was going right, and no one cared, certainly not brands,” Trumbull said. “So we asked ourselves, ‘how can a pizza company prove that we care?’ A really great way to do that is with what we do best: pizza. It is a universal truth that free pizza can make any bad situation better.”
The Emergency Pizza promotion not only caused major media buzz, but also greatly impacted the company’s bottom line during the fourth quarter of 2023, when it was launched.
“We saw more than 740,000 people visiting the campaign landing page in just 16 days, which is pretty insane,” Trumbull said. “Then without any paid media, the action resulted in nearly a billion media impressions… We saw just how big of an impact a free pizza can make. It helped drive a 2.8% increase in same-store sales for our business.”
While the Emergency Pizza promotion was meant to entice lapsed or new customers into the Domino’s pizza fold with promises of free pizza, the loyalty program was meant to appeal to long-time customers who wanted an easier and faster way to earn Domino’s rewards.
“If you’re not innovating and bringing new news around value, craveability, and convenience, then you’re at a loss in the QSR industry,” Trumbull said.
Contact Joanna Fantozzi at [email protected]