Dominos: Artisan Pizza - Fabio

Seeing as I don't actually own a TV it is rare that I come across an advertisement in its natural habitat.   Tonight as I ate dinner and watched Glee at a friend's house I saw this ad for Dominos' Artisan pizzas. The ad stars Top Chef contestant Fabio and was created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky. So, let's dive right in.

Message: The message conveyed is that Dominos' Artisan pizzas are really good. And that Dominos is so confident in their product that they're going to offer them at a low price. The ad lists the ingredients, the price and the reason behind it. I understood what they were talking about and though it took awhile to get there I thought it was pretty clear.

Execution: The execution of the ad definitely leaves something to be desired. Using Fabio's poor acting ability as a foible to demonstrate that they can't prove through an ad the quality of the pizza isn't effective. If anything it is just kind of annoying. Fabio was a loveable character because he was so casual and homey, I definitely wouldn't call him refined. So, yes he can't convey the artisinal quality of the pizza through an ad, but maybe that's because he isn't artisinal. And if this is what Dominos thinks of as artisinal, I'm not so sure I'm going to trust them on their "Artisan" pizzas. The cut away Brandon Solano is a bit rough and that's because instead of a reprieve from Fabio's poor acting we get Roboto-Chef. His personality comes across like carboard and who is he looking at? At least they realized that he was equally as painful to watch and take the time that he is talking to actually show the pizzas. Also the shot of Fabio at the end is probably unnecessary and not winning you any extra points.

Strategy: To use a discounted price to get people to try the new Dominos Artisan pizza, since that is the best way to prove their quality.

Success: I'm going to give this a fail. And not because the ad was annoying and both Fabio and Brandon were  unpleasant to watch. No, I'm giving this a fail because in using the strategy of a low price Dominos undermines their own claims of quality. It is really hard to argue that something is high quality and simultaneously offer it at a low price. People just won't believe you and why should they? Everything in the history of our lives is telling us that it's not true. So I don't think that this is even a good strategy. But if you are going to go ahead with it, you need to point out the discount. Because right now I just think that Dominos makes a cheap pizza and is calling it artisinal. Simply adding a limited amount of time would make the audience realize that the pizza is high quality and that this is a limited deal to get people to try it. The ad fails to make the connection that the lower price is a sign of Dominos' confidence in their pizza and not just them making a cheap pizza.

Found on TV!