CorpComms Magazine

As a devout pizza eater (I've ordered 480 times from my local Domino's store since 1997 when the computer system was installed), being asked if I would be interested in applying for the communications role at Domino's was a no-brainer. Don't get me wrong, I loved beer too - but after six and a half very happy, London Pride-soaked years at Fuller's Brewery, I was ready for a new challenge.

Looking back, the challenge turned out to be akin to doing a ten mile sponsored walk and suddenly agreeing at the end that you are ready to cross the Sahara in a pair of Jimmy Choos. Since arriving, it's certainly been interesting. It's very easy to underestimate the difference in the communications role when you move to a high profile, national - and global - brand that has a regular presence on television. And that's without considering the fact that activities in other countries can suddenly have an impact on you too.

There is no better example of this than the now-famous YouTube incident. Two stupid employees who thought it would be amusing to film themselves tampering with food without a thought for the impact on the other 8,700 Domino's stores around the globe. Apart from the actual event itself, it seems to crop up in every single piece of social media 'expert' promotion. Some say we dealt with it well. Some say we dealt with it badly. But bearing in mind we were one of the first companies to be impacted in such a manner - and with a video that ended up being so high profile, I think we did pretty well. It's very easy in the aftermath of the storm as an outsider, with time to plan and prepare, to criticise and pontificate on how you would have done it better - but I challenge any PR to do any different when you are in the centre of an online media storm and it's the Easter Holiday.

But what have we learnt - and what can I share with you from our experience? Well, I've collated below some thoughts that I'm happy to share.

1. You need to have the speed of Usain Bolt

As we all know, crises hit at the weekend, on Friday night, or over a Bank Holiday - but online crises have to be dealt with immediately. If you wait until the morning - it's all over. PRs used to have crisis management plans that started with activity for the first three days - now you have to have your plan for the first eight, 12 and 24 hours.

2. Talk to the online community through their medium

Personally, I think my colleagues in America were brilliant at this. The first responses issued by the company all went back through the same website (Consumerist.com) that had flagged up the article while a Twitter account was activated to maintain that online dialogue. The Twitter account was also great for moving the debate from what had happened to what was happening to the perpetrators and an online apology to customers for their behaviour from Patrick Doyle, president of Domino's USA, added some balance to those who were still looking at the original film.

3. Share what you've got

Kristy and Michael - the two people involved in the video (or Dumb and Dumber as I prefer to call them) - had no idea what they were about to unleash when they were fooling around with their video camera. When Kristy then tried to retract their actions - with a begging email to Domino's HQ in Michigan claiming they hadn't meant any harm and the food hadn't gone out - Domino's immediately posted it on the web for all to see. The same happened when they were arrested and the police kindly issued their mugshots. Again, it helped to ensure that the interested online community had something to talk about other than the incident itself. If you don't provide updates and information, others will fill the void for you.

4. Be tough but caring

One of the key messages from the US was This was two idiots with a video camera - and a bad idea. The other messaging was very much around the fact that they didn't represent the thousands of other Domino's employees both in the US and around the globe. Domino's needed to show that while it would be tough on Dumb and Dumber, it was because it cared about the rest of us - and we care about our customers. In addition, it helped to position the company as the victim in the incident. By using this simple message in layman's terms, rather than corporate bullshit about 'employees misusing company time and this sort of behaviour not being tolerated', the two idiots with a video camera and a bad idea message was simpler and more honest and more in line with the way our customers perceive us.

5. Monitor and be ready

Since the video appeared on YouTube, both in the US and the UK we have heightened our online monitoring services to ensure that we can respond even quicker. In the UK, we have also begun to revise codes of conduct to include guidelines about appearing on social media sites either in uniform or with reference to where you work. The thing to remember is that on YouTube, the only person who can remove something is the person who put it on there - so you need to try hard to prevent it appearing in the first place.

In summary, the whole experience has been a fast learning curve for Domino's - and I wouldn't want anyone to ever be in the same position. The one redeeming feature of the web is that, although it's permanent, other stuff is added at such a rate that you become old news even quicker than you would do with traditional media.

In the style of Jerry Springer, my final thoughts are monitor, prepare, use the web for two-way communication and don't panic if it happens to you. 

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