1. Why did Domino’s posting of an apology video to their corporate website fail to manage customer dissatisfaction when the same video posted to YouTube had an immediate and positive effect?

2. Domino’s communicated immediately internally with Domino’s social media team, the senior management team, and Domino’s security. Describe the communication channels used within the organization in this crisis.

3. What other types of social media could Domino’s have used to reach its stakeholders?

The Internet and social media have drastically changed how information, whether true or false, positive or negative, is spread throughout society. These advances in technology have forced companies to reconsider how they communicate to and with customers and other stakeholders. Marketing and other public relations officials struggle to attract and interact with customers and potential customers in rapidly changing, often antagonistic, unmoderated environments like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. This is especially true in a crisis. While traditional corporate executives are carefully crafting formal written statements, customers are blogging, tweeting, e-mailing, and posting photos that are shared and spread faster than traditional communication channels can comprehend. These customers often have the power to change the organization’s reputation before the organization has released a formal statement.

Patrick Doyle, President of Domino’s Pizza, learned how simultaneously punishing and rewarding social media can be after two employees filmed vulgar videos of each other mishandling food while at work, and then posted the video to YouTube. The video was viewed an estimated 1 million times in only two days, before it was removed from the site. The video was brought to the attention of Domino’s executives within 24 hours of being posted, and the company began to communicate immediately both internally and externally with relevant stakeholders including Domino’s social media team, the senior management team, and Domino’s security. Domino’s crisis team had a plan in place to deal with situations such as these; however, their plan relied on written documents and formal press releases, as well as traditional technology, which was essentially relegated to the company’s corporate website.