Domino’s DomiCopter — a glimpse of the future, or just a marketing gimmick?
Domino’s haven’t, in New Zealand at least, had much luck. For instance, earlier
this year they announced an imminent game changer culminating in their “biggest
announcement in 20 years,” according to their Facebook page. Even the CEO
himself added the statement “You’ve demanded change, and we’ve pushed
ourselves to respond.”
Yet this ‘#gamechanger’ turned out to only be an offering of premium toppings and
square pizza bases. Not much of a game changer, and audiences on social media
sites ranging from Facebook to YouTube reflected this, with comments like “This
is not a game changer” and “YOU HAD US ON THE EDGE OF OUR SEATS FOR
THIS?” These and similar messages dominated the pizza store’s pages.
And still it got worse. These negative comments were then reportedly
deleted by the pizza chain only serving to enrage their community further.
As a result, Domino’s are in a position where they need to revolutionise their brand
image. Here’s where the DomiCopter comes into the story. A remote controlled
drone complete with cameras is loaded up with a pizza order and, instead of having
to deal with streets, traffic and intersections, it flies directly to the delivery house.
Here’s a clip of this
But as YouTube posters have aptly pointed out, it’s very unlikely that this technology
will come into proper, or even regular, use within the foreseeable future.
One commenter wrote “I miss the part when you get your hand freshly sliced
into extra pepperoni toppings,” while another pointed out the limitations for the
technology, estimating that with the added weight the battery life of the drone would
be almost halved to 17 minutes. Not a very good delivery radius, is it? And what
about multiple pizza orders adding extra weight, therefore reducing the battery life
even further?
Falling pizza delivery drones hitting people in the head would definitely not be a good
look for Domino’s, although some lucky people could score some free pizza. But
yes, this a clever marketing gimmick. It’s a tough world we live in when we admire
brands that think ahead but annihilate those pretending to innovate for the sake of
marketing.
Unfortunately putting pizza in a drone and recording it is not innovating your delivery
methods, it’s putting some pizza in a drone and recording it. Unless you have
changed your delivery process enough to actually be delivering pizza’s to consumers
in this fashion then you haven’t innovated.
This self created hype can be a risky business strategy and backfire. Innovation is
more than just thinking: it’s innovating. In a world where critical commentary is at
the tip of every consumer’s fingers, you need to be ever more vigilant of the potential
outcomes.
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