{"id":1662,"date":"2010-04-07T16:53:21","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T11:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramble.sunmatrix.com\/?p=1662"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:44:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:44:24","slug":"dominos-pizza-holdouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/dominos-pizza-holdouts\/","title":{"rendered":"Domino\u2019s: Pizza Holdouts"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>When your friends \u201crat you out\u201d to a pizza brand<\/h2>\n<p>Domino\u2019s campaign against consumers who cannot stand its pizza continues. Crispin Porter + Bogusky is back with a new facet of the \u201cNew Pizza\u201d campaign. The brand sets out to harass three poor unsuspecting souls who have been ratted out as not eating Domino\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>The premise is that \u201conly a handful\u201d of people have not tried the new pizza recipe Domino\u2019s came out with.<\/p>\n<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5HznK_ZWMW8?fs=1&#038;playsinline=1\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"fullscreen; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<h2>The mechanic: turn trial into a social bounty hunt<\/h2>\n<p>The mechanism is simple and slightly mean in a way that makes people watch. Identify the \u201choldout\u201d. Make their resistance a story. Then recruit their friends as the distribution layer, so the campaign spreads through personal networks instead of brand channels alone. Because the invitation comes from someone you know, it carries social proof and mild pressure that paid media cannot.<\/p>\n<p>In US quick-service marketing, \u201cget them to try it once\u201d is often the hardest job, because taste perceptions and jokes about quality can become cultural default settings.<\/p>\n<h2>Why it lands: public call-out plus a clear path to redemption<\/h2>\n<p>This works because the tension is real. People do have strong opinions about Domino\u2019s. Making the holdout visible creates social pressure, but the campaign balances that pressure by offering an easy way out. Try the new recipe. Join the conversation. Stop being the exception.<\/p>\n<p>Extractable takeaway: When you use public call-out, pair it with a low-friction \u201credemption\u201d action so people can update their stance without losing face.<\/p>\n<p>The real question is whether your trial problem is a product problem or a permission problem, and which one you can solve fastest.<\/p>\n<h2>The business intent: accelerate reappraisal of the product<\/h2>\n<p>This is not a love-brand play. It is a credibility reset. Domino\u2019s wants lapsed and sceptical customers to re-test the product, so the \u201cnew recipe\u201d can replace the old mental model.<\/p>\n<p>After this, Domino\u2019s reported doubling its profits last quarter to $23.6 million.<\/p>\n<h2>Forcing first trial at scale: practical moves<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Make the barrier explicit.<\/strong> \u201cYou have not tried it\u201d is a clearer friction point than \u201cplease consider our brand\u201d.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Recruit friends, not audiences.<\/strong> Social pressure works best when it comes from someone the holdout knows.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Give the story a role people can play.<\/strong> \u201cBounty hunter\u201d is a participation frame, not just a message.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Link the stunt to a measurable behaviour.<\/strong> The only KPI that matters here is trial, not views.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So do you know a pizza holdout? Find out how to become a Taste Bud Bounty Hunter at www.PizzaHoldouts.com. A \u201cTaste Bud Bounty Hunter\u201d is the friend who nominates a holdout and nudges them to try the new recipe.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>A few fast answers before you act<\/h2>\n<h3>What is Domino\u2019s \u201cPizza Holdouts\u201d in one sentence?<\/h3>\n<p>A campaign that targets people who still have not tried the \u201cnew\u201d Domino\u2019s recipe, using friends to identify them and turning first-trial into a playful hunt.<\/p>\n<h3>What is the core mechanism?<\/h3>\n<p>Social recruitment plus a role people can play. Friends \u201crat out\u201d holdouts, and the brand reframes outreach as a bounty-hunt style participation story.<\/p>\n<h3>Why does using friends change the effectiveness?<\/h3>\n<p>Because social pressure is more persuasive when it comes from someone you know. The message is carried by relationships, not just media.<\/p>\n<h3>What is the real KPI this format is trying to move?<\/h3>\n<p>Trial. The stunt is designed to force the first bite, not just generate views or talk.<\/p>\n<h3>What is the most transferable takeaway?<\/h3>\n<p>If your growth problem is \u201cfirst experience\u201d, make the barrier explicit, recruit peer influence, and design a participation frame that points to the behaviour you want.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When your friends \u201crat you out\u201d to a pizza brand Domino\u2019s campaign against consumers who cannot stand its pizza continues. Crispin Porter + Bogusky is back with a new facet of the \u201cNew Pizza\u201d campaign. The brand sets out to harass three poor unsuspecting souls who have been ratted out as not eating Domino\u2019s. The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/dominos-pizza-holdouts\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Domino\u2019s: Pizza Holdouts<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Domino\u2019s and CP+B target \u201cpizza holdouts\u201d who haven\u2019t tried the new recipe. Friends rat them out, the brand \u201chunts\u201d them, and trial becomes a game.","_seopress_robots_index":"","iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159,19],"tags":[7510,268,719,718,715,7511,720,7507,716,717,137,6256,7508,7509],"class_list":["post-1662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-communication","category-social-media","tag-brand-turnaround","tag-crispin-porter-bogusky","tag-dominos","tag-dominos-pizza","tag-dominos-pizza-holdouts","tag-food-advertising","tag-new-pizza","tag-new-pizza-campaign","tag-pizza-holdout","tag-pizza-holdouts","tag-social-media-marketing","tag-stunt-marketing","tag-taste-bud-bounty-hunter","tag-trial-generation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-content\/uploads\/dominos_pizza_holdouts.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYpE1-qO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1662"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16260,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662\/revisions\/16260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}