When there's an elephant in the room...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPSGffJ7TmE] Wow.  When was the last time you saw a company rag on their own product or at the very least pass along consumer's negative comments about their own products.  Now you've got my attention.

Sometimes you have to admit the problem.  There's no running from it.  A few months ago, I saw a Wall Street Journal article about Wal-Mart.  For years, Wal-Mart tried to defend it's image from attacks, they tried to gloss it over, they pretended they were different.  Then the CEO did the unthinkable, he "stopped defending the company's practices and started changing them." (WSJ July 16, 2009)  It seems obvious, but so often it's not.  It's hard to hear criticism, especially when that criticism is public.  Authenticity is hard.

This is the trailer for a 4 minute video, that I would encourage you to watch (there's a :30 commercial out there, but I couldn't find it on youtube).  It's stilted in places, but overall it's well done, and get's me interested in a brand I had little or no interest in before.   Dominos goes from a faceless company in the business of delivery, to a company with personality and people who care in the business of making good pizza.  That's a pretty good shift even from a four minute video.

I grew up in New York City, and I'm a pizza snob, and I'm interested in trying the new Domino's pizza because of this commercial.

Spin can only get you so far, excuses usually sound like excuses.  At a certain point you have to come clean and state what everyone knows, it shows you're human, maybe more important it's authentic and real, and it captures people's attention because it's so damned rare and unexpected.