We all remember the Domino’s Pizza YouTube incident last April that affected the restaurant chain’s sales according to the company’s Q2 earnings report, “Unfortunately we experienced a short term hit to sales primarily in the weeks following the incident that we estimate cost us between 1% and 2% in domestic same store sales for the quarter.”

There were many who noted that this was a big social media lesson learned for Domino’s and that brands need to ensure they’re actively monitoring and listening on the social web.

And (seemingly) listened they did. Last week Domino’s released a short documentary-style video demonstrating how consumer feedback led to a complete overhaul of their pizza recipe.

This past Monday the brand bought YouTube’s homepage masthead featuring “The Pizza Turnaround” video trailer which linked to the Domino’s YouTube Channel housing the full 4 minute 21 second documentary complete with a Facebook feature and Twitter Channel (using a #newpizza hashtag).

[So is their campaign working so far?]

As of 11am today, the Pizza Turnaround video has 117,892 views and is on the rise. Notice, how when paid media kicked in on Monday, the views jumped up by almost 100,000.

Google searches for Dominos are trending upward towards levels similar to the April incident.

Mentions of dominos  as of Monday’s launch increased by about 300 from the previous day and mentions of “new pizza” or #newpizza peaked (so far) on the 28th yet are still relatively low in comparision to all mentions of Dominos for the launch period.

Source: Radian6

Comments on their YouTube video skew negative with some calling it a marketing/PR stunt while mentions on Twitter are generally positive praising the brand for listening.

Not surprisingly, on Facebook (and YouTube) there are those who are asking for the old pizza back but that’s also balanced with others who really like the new recipe.

Their broadcast, which is a short version of their YouTube video, also launched this past Monday and has an ending art card with the URL www.pizzaturnaround.com. While I would have liked to have heard a voiceover, “Watch our full story at pizzaturnaround.com” Domino’s has, at least, created a bridge that fosters a cross-media experience. The anchor site is responsible for over 81,000 of the total Domino’s Pizza Turnaround video views via a YouTube embed.

[It's too early to tell.]

We don’t yet know how this campaign (and Domino’s reengineered product) will ultimately affect sales – and, as the media and awareness begin to take hold, what the true reaction will be from the general public. But they seem to be off to a strong start and piquing curiosity – even with their biggest detractors.

[Kudos to one key ingredient.]

In the end, what’s great about what Domino’s is doing, so far, is the feel of authenticity behind their actions. The video does a great job humanizing the brand and showing what seem like real emotion and passion for their product – and that is one very key “ingredient” to creating brand loyalty.

Mike originally posted a version of this on his blog Harmonic Aftershock.