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Quoted by Matt on January 15 2010:

The weakness in our value chain with the customer was really in our core product.

Funny language from Domino’s CEO David Brandon (Translation: The company’s service and delivery were fine but the pizza sucked.)
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16 comments so far

EH 15 Jan 10

See, why can’t they just say that the pizza needed improving? Would that cause someone to lose face?

Ryan Cannon 15 Jan 10

@EH probably because anyone can understand (and remember) the Dominoes CEO saying that their pizza sucks. But if he wraps that in a bunch of jargon, it will fade out of memory faster, won’t get quoted on a million blogs, and a lot of people won’t even get it.

Chris Cuilla 15 Jan 10

They’re just figuring this out now?

I do suspect that the statement is an homage to Alan Greenspan, obfuscater extraordinaire.

Mike 15 Jan 10

@Ryan Cannon, actually their recent ad campaign has been pretty open about how their product sucked.

Sean McCambridge 15 Jan 10

Obfuscation is our most important product.

David 15 Jan 10

You still have to admit that it is refreshing to hear a big company confess that their product blows and that they are going to change it.

Morley 15 Jan 10

As mind-numbing as this corporate speak is, at least they admitted it.

Graham 15 Jan 10

They’re website was really, really good for its time when I started using it (2-3 years ago maybe). It was really clean & usable. I could save common orders, see how the toppings stacked up on it, and customize everything. They even had an AJAX chart at the end that showed you exactly where your pizza was (on the prep table, in the oven, in the delivery car, etc). But sadly, the pizza did kinda suck.

tathagata 16 Jan 10

Corporate speak or not, here in the third world, Dominoes, by far, still makes the best pizzas. Just imagine what the other’s make then.

The language is probably some b**t picked up from a book on management. Read too many of these can make you look stupid.

adijuh.com 16 Jan 10

It was really clean & usable

Kevin Milden 17 Jan 10

PR friendly corporate jargon that is shareholder neutral about a very negative topic. A more eloquent way to put it would’ve been – “People want more than just cheap pizza.” That is something everyone can agree with.

Fred 18 Jan 10

Brandon is now the Athletic Director at the University of Michigan. Go Blue!

Dempsey 18 Jan 10

tathagata is right. In the “no mom & pop pizza” places it the world, Domino’s rocks. It’s actually better that what you get in the states.

Rudiger 18 Jan 10

@EH, @Ryan Cannon, @Chris Cuilla and @all the others

If you’ve seen the Domino’s commercials, you’ll find they are pretty straightforward and honest about their “core product”.

Eric 18 Jan 10

I got news for them. Their service and delivery suck too. Tried the new pizza this weekend, took 1 hour and 45 minutes (1 hr late!) for the pizza to arrive. When it did, it didn’t taste any better than what they had before.

John Thomas 19 Jan 10

How to tell if someone’s advice is worth listening to, example #36: If they use buzzwords from failed Business School fads, like Value Chain, move on to the next speed dating table.

Comments are closed