Early returns from Domino’s say: absolutely.

Domino’s Pizza, named “Alpha Dog of the Week” on January 6 by Stephen Colbert (who noted that “it takes alpha meat balls to stand up and say ‘America, we suck’ “), has a new recipe and a new ad campaign.

If you haven’t seen the commercial yet, it’s remarkable for the fact that it embraces brutal honesty. For example, the spot shows a focus group participant calling their pizza crust “cardboard.” There’s a microsite, too, of course: pizzaturnaround.com.

Domino’s approach is refreshing. They’re saying, “Okay, America, we know you think our pizza is crap. You’ve made our pizza the butt of countless jokes. We’re not going to deny reality. We changed our recipe, so now it’s your turn: Give us a try and another chance.”

Can it work? So far, Wall Street says “yes.” Wall St. Nation reports that Domino’s stock is up 44 percent in one month. Self-described “stock idea network” Benzinga notes that “this may be a stock to keep your eye on throughout the year as it is expected to rise.”

Truth in advertising. What a concept.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 6:00 am and is filed under Marketing Stuff.