Domino’s Offers Rain Check Registry for Cancelled Weddings

US pizza chain Domino’s is offering a tongue-in-cheek registry for couples who have delayed weddings due to the pandemic. The campaign rewards would-be newlyweds with Domino’s gift cards, inserting the fast-food outlet into the Covid-19-era celebrations we detail in Festive Feasting in the Lockdown Era.
Couples can create a registry at Domino’s dedicated microsite, where they can request gift cards in varying amounts. While the brand ascribes gift card values to different post-cancellation occasions and dishes – a virtual bachelorette party gets salad, brownies and pepperoni pizza, while teaching a relative to video call merits a sausage-topped pie – recipients are able to spend their money on whatever menu options they’d like. Family and friends can also purchase gift cards for couples who don’t have a registry.
Given the bounty of wedding cancellations wrought by the coronavirus, Domino’s campaign is a clever demonstration of support for disappointed couples. The average age for newlyweds – now 32 in the US (Wedding Wire, 2019) – also maps nicely with the age of Domino’s consumer base, suggesting that there’s potential for the campaign to increase spending, and perhaps even drive new customers to the brand.
The campaign also echoes the engagement strategies we profile in Brand Initiatives for Life Interrupted, arguing that savvy brands need to quickly pivot messaging to acknowledge the new realities that customers are living in. Domino’s isn’t the only fast-food brand making the switch, see Family-Friendly Lockdown Takeaways and Curzon & Uber Eats Bring the Cinema Home for examples of how food brands can build customer relationships by facilitating new pandemic dining occasions.