PAVING FOR PIZZA
If the government won’t fix the pothole-ridden, deteriorated roads, a pizza company will.
The biggest threat to pizza isn’t too much sauce or underdone dough, it’s roads. America’s roads are full of potholes, bumps, and craters, damaging countless pizzas being driven home from Domino’s stores. Usually, the government is responsible for fixing infrastructure, but we decided to take matters into our own hands in the name of pizza. We paved roads in all 50 states to ensure every pizza makes it home safe and sound and delicious. Because bad roads shouldn’t happen to good pizza.
We launched the initiative with a national TV campaign, fixing our first pothole in the state culturally known for having the worst roads—California. Our message was simple: we’re fixing bad roads across America to save great pizzas, and we demonstrated that commitment in a loud way to set the campaign in motion.
From Burbank, we took our initiative nationwide, creating an interactive online experience that enabled Americans to nominate roads in their neighborhood to be paved, and explore the roads we’ve improved. We received more than 400,000 requests from across the country, leading us to pave roads from Athens, GA to Durant, OK to Coos Bay, OR and the rest of the 50 states.
To reinforce the threat that bad roads cause to pizza, users could interact with a carryout simulator from the pizza’s POV that mimicked how different road conditions can impact the quality of the pizza. The more decrepit the road, the more damaged the pizza.
Once neighborhoods were selected, Paving for Pizza toolkits (aptly designed in the shape of a pizza box) were given to each town’s Department of Public Works, which included branded stencils for the roads, stickers for equipment, road paint, and Domino’s gift cards. You know, to feed the crew after all the paving.
Each pothole and crack paved for pizza served as its own billboard for the brand, further expanding the reach of the initiative and making Domino’s more top of mind for everyday people.
