At one point in my career, I ate so much pizza in the name of research that my bloodstream was 40% marinara.

Let me take you back to the late 2000s, when I was part of the team tasked with figuring out how to save Domino’s Pizza from itself.

If you were around back then (or just bored enough to Google “worst pizza in America”), you might remember the “Sorry Our Pizza Sucks” campaign.

Prior to the release of the award-winning effort, Domino’s wasn’t just struggling; it was actively loathed. Customers were disinterested, and in focus groups, they didn’t hold back.

“Tastes like cardboard.” “The sauce is ketchup.” “I’d rather eat the box.”

That’s the consumer sentiment I was tasked to fix. And because I don’t believe in fixing anything I don’t understand at the molecular level, I went on a pizza diet.

My colleagues and I traveled across the country, tasting every national and local competitor’s pie and trying to unravel why people felt so connected to some brands (and betrayed by others).

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t just about the pizza. It was about trust.

Our team ran focus groups, in-home interviews, and taste tests in more markets than you can imagine. We even followed people’s real-world pizza habits in ethnographic studies to understand how and why they ordered, what they expected, and what made them fall in love (or fall into a food coma).

The data was brutal, but the subtext was fascinating.

Customers wanted to root for Domino’s; they remembered it from their college days, their broke eras, and their late-night cravings. But somewhere along the way, that fondness curdled. The convenience excuse no longer held up. They were willing to pay more and wait longer elsewhere if they felt good about what they were getting.

From ordering (clunky) to delivery (chaotic) to the pizza itself (disappointing). Every touchpoint had eroded trust. Competitors didn’t just have better pizza; they had better experiences. People could tell you exactly what they loved about their favorite local joint.

Domino’s? At best, it was forgettable. At worst, a punchline.

Finding the new secret sauce = radical honesty and co-creation.

Here’s where the magic happened (and where many brands and founders often chicken out). We didn’t just take the feedback and quietly tweak the ingredients. We took that raw, unfiltered customer rage and put it on TV.

We developed new, groundbreaking commercials with the CEO, Patrick Doyle, standing in front of America, acknowledging their shortcomings with disruptive honesty.

And it wasn’t just lip service. We also literally knocked on people’s doors, showed up with pizzas, and said, “You told us we sucked. Can you taste this and tell us if we’re getting better?”

I’ve been in research, branding, and marketing for 16 years, and I’ve never seen a more uncomfortable but brilliant exercise in co-creation.

Customers weren’t just passive recipients of the new recipe but part of the process. Their complaints shaped the product. Their reactions shaped the messaging. Their feedback shaped the experience.

That level of humility and collaboration turned customers into co-conspirators.

Suddenly, it wasn’t Domino’s vs. the haters. It was Domino’s and the haters vs. bad pizza.

That’s the piece that so many miss. Reinvention isn’t about locking yourself in a war room with a rebrand deck. It’s about inviting your audience into the kitchen. Letting them taste the sauce while it’s still simmering. Asking them what’s missing and actually listening.

My team’s work on Domino’s, the research, the campaign, and the tech innovations that resulted (like the Pizza Tracker) didn’t just turn the brand around. It turned into a Harvard Business School case study.

Feel free to casually work that into a conversation the next time someone questions your love of carbs.

Domino’s stock price skyrocketed over 5,000% between 2010-2020 — outperforming Google, Amazon, and Apple at one point. Same-store sales went from flatlining to 29 consecutive quarters of growth. And all because they were willing to say, “Our pizza sucks, and we need your help to fix it.”

That kind of honesty would give most brands (and people) a full-body rash. But it worked. Because rebranding isn’t about slapping on a new logo or pretending you were perfect all along. It’s about owning your ugly and inviting people into the process.

What Domino’s taught me about reinvention.

If you’re stuck — as a brand, a creator, a human — chances are you’re trying too hard to cover the cracks instead of building from them.

Whether I’m helping a thought leader write their copy to reflect their voice and personality or working with a brand to figure out why they’re not resonating with their audience, the lessons I learned from working on the Domino’s Pizza Turnaround all come back to the same lesson: radical honesty is the shortcut to reinvention.

Here are some takeaways to help you in your own efforts…

• Own Your Cardboard Moment. Domino’s didn’t tiptoe around it; they put “our pizza sucks” right into their ads. Customers didn’t just appreciate the honesty; they leaned in because of it. The same goes for you. Stop trying to spin your way out of failure. Own it.

• Ask, Don’t Assume. We could have made up a hypothetical story about why people hated Domino’s. Instead, we asked. Relentlessly. If you’re not talking to your audience, and I mean really talking, not just lurking in the comments, you’re guessing. And you’re probably guessing wrong.

• Fix the Feel, Not Just the Product. Domino’s didn’t just upgrade the sauce and call it a day; they built the Pizza Tracker so people felt more in control. Half the time, it’s not your product’s problem — it’s how people experience it. How do your customers feel when they interact with you? Nervous? Frustrated? Ghosted? Fix that.
  

• Reinvention Is a Lifestyle, Not a Campaign. This is the part Domino’s forgot. Years into their glow-up, they got comfortable. Now? Sales are dipping, competitors are savvier, and “we used to suck” isn’t enough to keep people hooked. Reinvention isn’t a one-and-done event. It’s a muscle; if you don’t keep working it…you lose it.

Right now, Domino’s is wobbling again. Same-store sales missed expectations, and the pizza landscape is way more crowded. Back when we were cooking up their turnaround, Domino’s only had to beat Pizza Hut and Papa John’s. Now? They’re up against DoorDash, Uber Eats, local joints with cult followings, and viral TikTok recipes.

If you’re reading this thinking, “Damn, that sounds like me/my brand/my career,” congratulations, because the comeback is always better than the setback and the same rules apply: Own your weird. Show your work. Keep asking why. Stay flawesome. Because whether you’re selling pizza or your brand, the secret sauce isn’t perfection. It’s being real enough that people root for you.

Now, excuse me while I order something other than pizza for dinner.