The other day, Domino’s Pizza announced that it would continue its Paving for Pizza campaign and thus pave more potholes across the US, to make sure customers’ pizza experience wasn’t ruined by a bad road.
Though no one doubted (or did anyone?) the motives behind this campaign and how it doubled as excellent marketing for the company, The Guardian notes that marketing is all there is to it. In other words, the campaign is more about being seen than about doing some good for the community.
For starters, Domino’s boasts of having already paved potholes in 4 cities in the U.S. Apparently, this initiative was such a hit that it’s now asking customers to go online and, in between bites of their pizza, nominate their own town for a so-called paving grant, if they know of potholes in the road.
That sounds like Domino’s is already doing pretty heavy work. Not so much, the report notes.
“So far, Domino’s has made very little dent in that problem: across the four towns they’ve worked in they’ve fixed a couple of hundred potholes, but the majority of those were in Athens, Georgia. In Burbank, California, they fixed just five, funding five workers to work for eight hours,” The Guardian writes.
Of the potholes they fixed, all of them ended up being branded with the company’s logo. In addition to having “Domino’s Pizza” written on the trucks, the cones and the worker’s clothes (which is to be expected), they spray-painted the name on the asphalt used to pave the pothole (which isn’t really to be expected). That speaks volumes as to the company’s priority, the publication notes.
“They say they’re going to fix more, and are allowing people to nominate towns on their website. So if you’ve got a pothole outside your house it might be worth dropping them a line, as long as you live on a picturesque avenue that will look good on an advert,” adds The Guardian. Burn!
The worst part is that Domino’s seems to be taking advantage of a situation that’s really getting on drivers’ nerves. According to the National Transportation Research Group, 37% of US roads are in poor or mediocre condition, which costs drivers and estimated $107 billion annually. That’s $482 per driver on car repairs.
For starters, Domino’s boasts of having already paved potholes in 4 cities in the U.S. Apparently, this initiative was such a hit that it’s now asking customers to go online and, in between bites of their pizza, nominate their own town for a so-called paving grant, if they know of potholes in the road.
That sounds like Domino’s is already doing pretty heavy work. Not so much, the report notes.
“So far, Domino’s has made very little dent in that problem: across the four towns they’ve worked in they’ve fixed a couple of hundred potholes, but the majority of those were in Athens, Georgia. In Burbank, California, they fixed just five, funding five workers to work for eight hours,” The Guardian writes.
Of the potholes they fixed, all of them ended up being branded with the company’s logo. In addition to having “Domino’s Pizza” written on the trucks, the cones and the worker’s clothes (which is to be expected), they spray-painted the name on the asphalt used to pave the pothole (which isn’t really to be expected). That speaks volumes as to the company’s priority, the publication notes.
“They say they’re going to fix more, and are allowing people to nominate towns on their website. So if you’ve got a pothole outside your house it might be worth dropping them a line, as long as you live on a picturesque avenue that will look good on an advert,” adds The Guardian. Burn!
The worst part is that Domino’s seems to be taking advantage of a situation that’s really getting on drivers’ nerves. According to the National Transportation Research Group, 37% of US roads are in poor or mediocre condition, which costs drivers and estimated $107 billion annually. That’s $482 per driver on car repairs.