We all indulge in a little pizza from time to time. I admit I don’t eat it often but my most recent experience was certainly a good one.
I had recently discover the Pizza Mogul program from Domino’s and it got me intrigued. I set up an account on my phone while passenger on a car trip home, it only took a few minutes. I then created a few pizzas and waited for people to discover them. By the end of the car ride we decided my fiancé would have the Pizza Mogul account instead of me so when we got home he created an account and a Facebook page (with a little help) and started to promote his pizza creations.
A few weeks later I decided to check in on my account which I had forgotten all about and was pleasantly surprised to find $56 waiting for me! The Pizza Mogul platform by Domino’s allows anyone is Australia to set up an account and customise their own pizzas using Domino’s toppings. Then if someone orders one of your creations you receive from 25c – $4.25 per pizza based on the ingredients. It’s a great initiative and even allows users to donate a percentage of their earnings to a participating charity.
They tasted as good as they look!
To support my fiancé on his Pizza Mogul journey we ordered some of his pizzas and that’s when I was really impressed. I ordered on my iPad, was introduced to my driver Dion and was then able to follow him (thanks to the power of GPS tracking) as Dion made his 6 minute journey to my house.
I could literally watch every road the driver took and see just how far he was away from delivering my pizzas. This was great for us as we have two Labradoodles who get rather excited when people come to the door so this allowed us to put them out just before our pizza arrived. The site also entertains you with a funny question poll each time your driver stops the car and if that wasn’t entertainment enough you could click to play games while you waited.
I was so impressed by Domino’s adaption to technology from a humble Pizza shop that I interviewed Don Meij, Group CEO and Managing Director of Domino’s Pizza Enterprises to find out more.
Things have come a long way for Dominos since the days of ordering via the humble telephone. At what point did you realise the online world of digital marketing was going to play a large role in how you do business?
“At Domino’s we have a relentless drive to deliver in tune with our customers changing needs and wants and to deliver innovation that excites. We are relentless in this search which means being where our customers are and ensuring that we fit into their lives, anywhere, anytime.
A lot of our innovation comes from thinking through solutions to customers points of friction. We listen to their feedback and challenges and then aim to develop the technology to help remove these challenges for example empowering a delivery customer with knowledge of “where is my pizza” through our GPS Driver Tracker technology.”
You really make it easy for people to order from wherever they want with your different Apps, Facebook ordering system, website and now even the iWatch app. Does being everywhere give you a competitive advantage and increase in sales or is it more about being user friendly for customers?
“The Domino’s ethos has always been about convenience for our customers – even being the first to offer home delivery all those years ago. That ethos has worked its way through everything we do from creating piping hot pizzas for value prices all the way through to our ordering systems. By creating mobile apps, a new responsive website and a four click ordering system we are making it easier for customers to order which means we give them back their time to do the things they enjoy. The way technology is evolving and the pace in which it is moving means we are able to deliver even more exciting projects to market. Examples of this can be seen with the recent launch of our GPS Driver Tracker and the launch of the world-first me-tailing platform, Pizza Mogul last year.”
With the increase of online advertising has “main stream” advertising like print and TV become less important?
“It all plays an important role in reaching our customers – whether this be via television, online or even via social media which makes up an important part of our Company’s DNA, we pride ourselves on being there and giving our customers a voice and access to Domino’s.
We have a 24/7 presence on social media and love engaging with our customers that way, as well as using it as a tool to give our followers some great product information. Our Pizza Mogul platform encourages our Moguls to get their pizzas out there via different marketing resulting in some creative content being shared online. Our Moguls are passionate, energetic, entrepreneurial and innovative and they inspire us with the creative content they produce daily!”
The Pizza Mogul program is a great innovation for Dominos, how did it come about?
“In 2012, Domino’s launched an experiential iPad app called ‘Pizza Chef’, which allowed users to visually drag and drop toppings to create their ultimate pizza designs. Seeing a significant increase in basket size for orders made through Pizza Chef, Domino’s wanted to push the idea further so Domino’s partnered with ThoughtWorks to bring the world-first idea to life and create the Pizza Mogul platform.
Pizza Mogul was designed in a way that reduces barriers to entry, allowing people to become Moguls within seconds because you can start creating pizzas in just one click!
In a year Pizza Mogul has resulted in 63,000 users, 130,000 pizza creations and more than 10,000 pieces of user generated content.”
Some people are making serious money as Pizza Moguls – I set up an account for this article, made some pizzas and came away with over $50 for very little effort, tell us about your top performers.
“We are so happy that our customers have embraced this amazing platform and being able to take a slice of the profits. Our most successful moguls, #FlavoursOfTheWorld, have earned over $60,000 allowing them to save for an overseas holiday. We love hearing about our Moguls finding success with a great pizza combination and fantastic content because it shows our customers are as passionate about pizzas as us.”
What’s the craziest pizza you have seen made in the Pizza Mogul platform? Any chance you will be adding desert pizzas one day?
“We have seen a huge variety of amazing topping combinations come through the platform and the craziest would have to be the UQ_Red_Heavies – #theredheavychallenge pizza which has classic crust, pizza sauce topped with chilli flakes, buffalo hot sauce, pepperoni and three times the amount of jalapenos. It’s so spicy it is a challenge to eat!
It helps us to watch trends and see what’s popular and we have Moguls asking for new ingredients all of the time to add to their pizza creations.
As for dessert pizzas, we never say never at Domino’s.”
For my readers who may want to try and make some money with the Pizza Mogul platform what are your top 3 tips?
“Our top three tips for making some money with Pizza Mogul are:
- Create your pizza with a theme in mind but try to avoid using too many toppings and just use a focus ingredient to create impact- don’t overcomplicate things!
- Create great video and image content by keeping them interesting, in focus and getting in close to the action.
- Share this amazing content on Social Media – the best practices for this are on our website under ‘Mogul Tips’“
The GPS Driver Tracker has made it fun for customers at home waiting for their Pizzas, for me I loved the funny questions that appeared underneath the tracker while I was waiting and I was able to put my dogs outside just before the driver arrived. As well as being fun and super handy what other effects has the GPS Driver Tracker had on Dominos and your drivers?
“We developed GPS Driver Tracker with safety in mind and since the trial was introduced in ACT we saw a 50% decrease in driver accidents. Since GPS Driver Tracker is able to monitor speed, harshness of driving and prolonged stopping periods we are able to see what our drivers are up to on the roads which gives Domino’s a huge transparency over a part of the business that was previously unknown.
Not only does it make our deliveries safer for our drivers, for customers there are huge benefits including faster, fresher and hotter pizza, convenience as well as a unique customer engagement with the driver. The poll questions and information about the driver makes the whole experience more engaging for the customer – where as they used to just be watching the clock!”
Dominos has certainly embraced technology and the digital world we live in today. What advice do you have for small business owners who are yet to take the leap to digital marketing?
“Moving to a digital marketing strategy requires a costly leap of faith which is sometimes why small businesses don’t make the move as soon as they should. However having customers being able to access your product when and where they want will pay dividends in the long run.”
There’s some great lessons to be learnt from Dominos who are always adapting to suit their customers. They have moved online because their customers have moved online. They make ordering quicker as their customers are busier. Remember the best way to use social media and digital marketing is to be where your customer are. If you’re not sure survey them and find out.
If you would like to give Domino’s Pizza Mogul a go you can set up your free account at https://www.pizzamogul.com.au
Do you know of any other businesses who are doing great things online? Let me know in the comments below.
