Synopsis:

Over the years, Domino’s packaging had become overloaded with generic messaging that had little impact with consumers. Our task was to make Domino’s the definitive article once more by redesigning its delivery boxes in the UK. Knowing that 96% of all Domino’s pizzas are sold in pairs, we made the brand’s iconic red and blue domino logo pivotal to the design, and used the brand’s pizza combo deal as a canvas to bring it to life – one red box, one blue box. The result was bold, brave and simple packaging design. An open invitation for sharing and play.

Background

Domino’s Pizza began delivering to homes across America back in 1960. Today, it’s the biggest pizza chain in the world, with franchises in 73 countries. With a distinctive blue and red logo and catchy name, Domino’s authored the home delivery pizza market. Yet, after decades of local market interpretations of their pack design, increasing competition and promotion-driven activations, Domino’s had lost its confidence. The delivery boxes had become cluttered with generic messaging and the once iconic Domino’s brand mark had become relegated to a small endorsement on promotional and themed packs. The brand was becoming recessive in a sea of brown boxes. At its arrival on the doorstep, it no longer commanded a sense of authority or impact. Our brief was to unearth and bring to life Domino’s charisma in a bold and iconic manner, to make it stand out, engage and excite consumers again, beyond just the product offer.

Creative Idea

Our creative goal was to reinforce the brand’s distinctiveness and make people feel proud about their choice of Domino’s over a competitor pizza. In fact, we didn’t want them to order a pizza at all – we wanted them to order a Domino’s. The idea was to make Domino’s the definitive article – to put it in a category of one by making it bold, simple and charismatic.

We wanted to give Domino’s its swagger back and create an iconic box that was instantly recognisable and could act as a canvas for brand storytelling using an ownable design language. In other words, engage, excite and educate consumers.

Our creative answer came from the brand name itself – a truly unique gift for Domino’s and a rich foundation for design.

Strategy

We discovered that 96% of all UK Domino’s pizzas are sold in pairs. Furthermore, there is an inherent sense of social play within the brand, from the occasions it’s consumed (e.g. family time, friends playing games, spontaneous meal moments) to how it’s shared. For Domino’s, this was the perfect insight to tap into and own in a distinctive manner.

We identified two elements that became the foundation for our design idea. Firstly, the domino word in the brand name, an immediate visual trigger and a true gift for design, referring to something that is made of two parts. Secondly, knowing that people order their pizza in pairs, together with the combo meal deal from the brand created a strong link to the social and sharing element of the pizza eating experience.

This recurrence of duality across different aspects of the brand has become the pivotal point to our design solution.

Execution

To stand out, be chosen and remembered, Domino’s needed to celebrate what made it unique, not what made it the same. We started by removing all the generic category communication, focusing only on what Domino’s owned: its once iconic red and blue domino logo. With pizza being a catalyst to sharing occasions, we took inspiration from Domino’s pizza combo deal and used it as a canvas for the visual expression of the domino – one red box, one blue box. Thus, the iconic Domino’s logo became the pack itself and a tangible expression of people coming together over pizza. Design that is bold, simple and an invitation to play and share.

With its visual essence distilled into its essential, distinctive components, the brand was able to make an impact on the doorstep and demonstrate that it is the only choice when it comes to pizza.

Don’t order a pizza. Order Domino’s.

Having only just launched into the UK market, it’s too early to measure the impact of the new campaign. However, in an operational trial, Domino’s received fantastic feedback from both store teams, Franchisees and customers all of whom loved the new box. Some stores have even had a few requests for empty boxes that they could keep as they liked them so much!