Interview - PL Flashcards
Please briefly walk me through your relevant work experiences here at Domino’s or other experiences that you feel are relevant for this role.
I’ve been at Domino’s for a little over six years and have enjoyed growing along with this brand. I previously had PR, social media, and digital activation responsibilities. Thanks to this background, I have excellent written and verbal communication skills which is applicable to this role since it involves a lot of cross-functional work with different teams from across the business such as IT, EIM, A&I, advertising, digital experience and legal. In my current role, I manage over 10+ projects at any given time, so I am constantly working with key stakeholders and using project management tools. I’m familiar with Confluence and JIRA. Additionally, I am coordinating all digital creative for the digital marketing team, so I’m extremely familiar with working with agencies and would feel very comfortable leading creative efforts on behalf of the Loyalty team. I’m skilled in writing and presenting briefs as well as larger presentations. I also work with external partners such as VerizonUp and King Media, so I’m in tune with how to develop and execute mutually beneficial partnerships with other companies or brands. Lastly, I manage four budget lines with over $1M+ in spend, so I’d be able to quickly transition to managing the Loyalty budget and creating SOWs.
Tell me why you’re interested in this role as your next step at Domino’s.
I’m interested in this role as my next step at Domino’s because I want to continue contributing and adding value to the Advertising team. When joining the team last year, I was able to hit the ground running and start working on projects which was a direct result of my prior experiences and the relationships I’ve built at Domino’s over the past few years. I enjoy all aspects of Advertising and I’ve learned a lot from Paige and the rest of the team. I like working with the WIP team every day as well as other internal cross-functional team members. I feel ready to take on a heightened role and grow beyond Specialist level.
How does this position fit into your overall career path?
My goal is to continue growing at Domino’s and to contribute to the business in ways to drive the brand forward. I feel that I have a lot of depth in my current and previous focus areas, and I’m looking to expand upon my skills and take on tasks that require more strategic thinking. I feel that my background and skill set match up extremely well with the requirements of the Advertising Manager role, but at the same time, I know that taking on this role would be a completely new experience and would provide me with a new challenge. In terms of my broader, overall career path, I have enjoyed working at Domino’s for the past 6+ years and am looking to continue being a part of this great organization. I’ve been told by current and previous supervisors that I’m a high-performer and that I can be trusted to handle the most urgent and high priority tasks. Additionally, I’ve been told that I’m extremely reliable, a great leader and that I’m a very prepared employee. That reinforcement has made it clear to me that I am ready for this Advertising Manager role. I hope to start my next chapter at Domino’s by taking on this position and I can see myself continuing to impact the team and the Advertising space at Domino’s long-term.
Describe a time when you were able to lead a win-win solution with a customer.
TOPIC: Stranger Things Packaging. Getting an oven shipped for Loaded Tots/Leftovers shoot.
ANSWER: I don’t interface with customers in my current position, but I can at the very least provide an example of a time when I was able to lead a win-win solution with a partner. I recently lead our Stranger Things packaging project where I had to work with WIP to balance items requested in the brief as well as Netflix/Stranger Things branding or requests. The Netflix team wanted to ensure that there was plenty of Netflix/Stranger Things branding on the box but they also pushed back against the text on the front box flap that read: “Limited Edition 80’s Box”. They brought this up during a status call and explained they didn’t think it was necessary to call out “80’s” since the box was retro-themed. I explained that we needed to ensure the packaging made sense to the “Bubbas” out there and that many folks from GEN Z likely weren’t familiar with our 80’s Domino’s logo. After providing this reasoning and compromising with the Netflix team to move the Netflix/ST logo to more prominent positions on the packaging, we were able to land on the final design which we’ll be getting plates created for soon.
Tell me about a time you created a long-term solution while balancing short term needs. What impact did it have on the organization?
TOPIC: Updating Ad Team University with production guidelines
ANSWER:
Tell me about a time when you had to move quickly to beat the competition.
TOPIC: Recruitment TV Ad - Lolly; Worked to get it on-air in less than 2 weeks.
ANSWER:
What are two things you believe our company is doing well? What’s one thing that you think we should change?
Two things we do well:
- Keeping a pulse on current things in society and being able to tailor our marketing toward the tension that a lot of people are facing to make it broadly relatable.
- Innovative ideas – as a brand, we are always working to celebrate the love of pizza and have come up with several innovative ideas such as the Domino’s Wedding Registry, the Paving for Pizza campaign and Pizza and a Movie with EPIX.
One thing that we should change:
1. Sort of underway already, but working to launch more products
You’re new to an organization. How do you go about learning how that organization works?
When I’m new to an organization or team, I work to do research on my own first in terms of looking through files such as old presentations, documentation (i.e., Confluence pages) and onboarding materials that may have been left behind. Aside from that, I work to set up one-on-ones with the team that I would be working with, so this would be both my immediate team and cross-functional team members from different areas of the business. Additionally, I would get one-on-ones set up with my manager on a weekly basis, with a more frequent cadence to start off with so I can ensure that I’m on the right track with the projects that I’ve taken over and that I’m able to ask questions. I would ask to get relevant meeting invites forwarded to me and for a contact list of vendors or partners that the person in the role previously dealt with. Lastly, I would take detailed notes during meetings and clarify action items so I could refer back to them later.
What role does a “corporate culture” play in the success of a company?
I believe that a “corporate culture” has a huge impact on the success of a company. For a company to be successful, it has to have a group of great employees behind it. Keeping employees engaged and aligned around a strategic vision, mission or purpose is key to any company’s success, whether it’s Domino’s or not. I know that things have been hard over the past year in COVID times as we all haven’t been able to see each other in the office as we normally would, but I think that Domino’s has done a great job in keeping employees informed.
What is your greatest leadership achievement? Why?
TOPIC: Recruitment work from 2021, securing stores for TV shoots, APP50 work from Digital Activation
ANSWER: I feel that I have a lot of great leadership achievements that I could highlight from my current and previous roles.
RECRUITMENT: After joining the advertising team, I was able to take on a special request to brief WIP and obtain materials for stores to use to help with recruitment efforts. The project involved getting digital content, radio ads and print toolkit assets developed. I was able to lead all aspects and as a result, WIP handed off a variety of creative for our stores to use. This project continued with my work on the recruitment brand actions brief, which resulted in Domino’s receiving an array of kernels to submit for concept testing. Concept testing results showed us which ideas were favorable in terms of hiring, so we, as an ad team, have been able to move quickly to start to prioritize concepts and build out our recruitment pipeline now that it’s a permanent part of our National Calendar.
APP50: With these campaigns, I led a cross-functional group with team members from Digital Experience, A&I, Native Apps and Digital Marketing. The first APP50 campaign took place in Dec. 2019 and was a bit rocky. Shortly after that campaign, I took over the management of APP50s and reconvened with the cross-functional group to launch the March 2020 campaign. Through frequent touch base meetings, delegation of tasks, constant communication via email and Teams and testing with specific UAT scenarios, all APP50 campaigns since Dec. 2019 have been stable. In fact, data proves that APP50 weeks drive app order gains while keeping total system orders manageable, participants are ordering more over time and campaigns can be applied in multiple ways while still proving to be effective (paired with or without boost week, standalone, pair with a holiday). The team reached these great results by staying flexible with the 2020 National Calendar, listening and participating in team touch bases to stay informed and aligning on key enhancements such as QA improvements.
How have you developed people and organizations to consistently deliver results?
I have developed people and organizations to consistently deliver results by setting up frequent touch base meetings for cross-functional teams as well as 1:1 conversations where needed, identifying workstreams, assigning tasks, establishing expectations upfront and reinforcing those expectations over time, and also making sure people have information they need to move forward in their respective work areas. Following these steps has allowed me to work with multiple team members and consistently launch digital campaigns on time and on budget.
Tell me about a time when you delegated a critical piece of work to a group of employees who were on different cross-functional teams. How did you oversee the project?
TOPIC: King/Crash Integration, Working with Field team members and SCC team members to get stores and food orders placed/delivered for TV shoots
ANSWER: In my Digital Activation role, I led a project with King Media (the makers of Candy Crush) as we are looking to integrate the Noid into the upcoming Crash Bandicoot mobile game launch. This was a critical partnership because this game was being touted as the next Candy Crush and the makers of the game expect it to be popular over the next 10 years. Furthermore, this partnership was Domino’s first and most substantial in the gaming space. I led a cross-functional team with members from across the business and members of our agency team. Teams from legal, advertising, PR, communications, IT, and digital marketing are all involved. As a result, I needed to delegate work based on each team’s business area. For example, I worked closely with Jenny on PR materials, however, considering that she’s on the PR team, I have delegated PR tasks directly to her. To oversee the project and all tasks associated with the workstreams that were developed, I used Microsoft Project to record and assign each task. This helped to keep team members accountable as they knew exactly what they were responsible for as part of this larger project. As a result, the project stayed on schedule as planned and action items were addressed every week as we worked toward the launch date.
How have you grown and developed people? How did you decide what capability investments to make?
While I haven’t had the opportunity to manage anyone directly, I have assisted with onboarding team members for previous roles. I successfully onboarded Jamie, Neihia, Lindsey, Dani, Katie S. for their digital activation and social media roles. As I have onboarded them, I have encouraged them to stay in contact with me as I like to have a good rapport with people that I train so they feel that they can come to me and ask me questions any time. I see myself as an adviser, so I act as such. I have been told by people that I have helped to onboard that they have seen me as a mentor and that I make the process easy to understand.
Tell me about a time when you worked with a cross functional team that achieved excellent results. How did the team reach this solution?
TOPIC: National Offers Team - Updating M&M from $5.99 to $6.99
ANSWER: In 2022 I was a part of the National Offers team. The price point for M&M was changed from $5.99 to $6.99 for the first time in years and as a result there were a ton of changes that needed to be made. I of course worked on a lot of the advertising components that needed to be updated so I spearheaded radio production and worked closely with the WIP team on our updated TV spots. With all the cross-functional work that went into this project, the team actually ended up winning a Reppy.
Tell us about your management style—people, teamwork, direction?
When I’m managing other people or teams, I like to be consultative – I take a democratic management style approach. It’s important to me to hear the input of others before moving forward in finalizing decisions. If there are certain issues identified or if a team member isn’t pulling their weight, I will step in and mediate accordingly. I feel that it’s my job to keep projects and tasks moving in the right direction, but I ultimately work with many people and teams, so I have to put my trust in them and know that they can govern themselves and complete the tasks that pertain to their focus areas.
Describe a time when you helped a group understand why a specific change was necessary? What was the change? What did you do?
TOPIC: Yum Yum Cuts - Needed to Add Branding/Lockup to Cuts
ANSWER: When working with Moonshot on the Yum Yum cuts, the first round of content didn’t have any Domino’s logos or lockups. Because of this, the content felt really bare and the average person likely wouldn’t understand that the ad was from Domino’s. I quickly called this out in my feedback and explained that branding actually helps our content to perform better in Zappi testing. As a result, branding was added in for the R2 cuts and the content looked a lot better.
Provide an example of a time you were able to influence a leader using data.
TOPIC:
Recruitment brand actions brief - pulled together data from several different sources to craft a story.
ANSWER:
Recruitment brand actions study:
In 2021 I created a brand actions brief and WIP was instructed to deliver several kernels for our A&I team to put into testing. Testing began in late 2021 and results were shared in mid-January. After reviewing the concepts, a handful rose to the top and
Tell me about a time when you had to quickly shift your team’s priorities to deal with an immediate business need. How did you manage the pressing business need?
TOPIC: Recruitment work - digital, radio and print assets, brand actions brief, TUSA flyers, TV ad
Art had mentioned in a meeting or System call that we would have a TV ad on air by the end of January. The team did not have anything developed yet so it was a quick turnaround to determine what the ad would consist of and how to get it shipped so fast.
Tell me about a time when you had to develop and execute a new strategy/vision. How did you bring it to life in the business?
TOPIC: Recruitment Work, Yum Yum NLV work
ANSWER: One of the extensions of the Surprise Frees campaign included rewarding team members for great execution of the promotion (i.e., adding stickers to boxes). The framework set for Employ-Frees was strategic in the sense that it’s currently being referenced to inform the way our Mind-Bending Service contest is operated. I led the creation of T&Cs with Merkle, winner notification via mail merge and coordinate with Jay to get prizing shipped out to the franchisees.
If you were hired, based on what you’ve learned about the role, what would be your priorities in your first three to six months on the job?
Within the first three months:
- Continue running with current Advertising projects that Kevin and Michela are handling and see them through
- Gear up for windows that are coming up next and in the future.
- Continue to work closely with the Digital team to ensure digital content is best in class.
- Grow and develop Associate Advertising Manager.
Within the first six months:
- Work to develop an array of Delivery-focused kernels to put into testing so we can continue to build out our idea pipeline and shape our future National Calendar.
- Work toward our experimental TV shoots and get plans in place for in-store cameras.
Tell me how the duties and responsibilities of your current (or past) position related to the organization’s business strategy
The duties and responsibilities of my current role relate to the organization’s business strategy because I’m directly supporting and providing feedback on Advertising work that will ultimately drive customers to our franchisee’s stores and lead to sales. The campaigns and promotions that are added to the National Calendar are the result of concept testing and insights gathered to help inform how we as a brand can position ourselves to steal or gain market share for delivery and carryout.
In my previous Digital Activation role, I supported teams that use digital marketing platforms to drive sales and new customer acquisition. With these objectives, the team is working to combat the aggregators so Domino’s is the dominant #1. Day-to-day, I’m coordinating with the agency to get creative assets developed for testing on our owned and paid media platforms. These assets are served to customers and work to drive iROAS, lift and conversion, which results in sales and new customers ordering from Domino’s.
Additionally, I also led our APP50 and VerizonUp campaigns, which both contribute to the organization’s business objectives of driving sales and new customer acquisition. APP50 campaigns have resulted in an additional 120,000 first-time app orders per week compared to previous weeks while VerizonUp campaigns have resulted in an average of 5K incremental new customers per campaign. These promotions help Domino’s to gain market share and encourage customers to use our app and ordering platforms.
Tell me about the most challenging change initiative that you led.
The most challenging change initiative that I have led was the Wings launch last year. This was a challenging initiative because it would the brand’s first product launch in a number of years since Bread Twists. In addition to that, so many team members had shifted around, so the cross-functional digital and experience teams were virtually new in regard to never having launched a product before. I, along with several other team members, had to learn how to knock off the cobwebs and determine what was needed to get the launch done. In addition to introducing a new and improved product with Wings, there were so many other implications on things like piece counts and dip cups. The digital experience was quite robust. I referred back to previous DDDs and presentations to understand what was done for Bread Twists. I also worked closely with the advertising team and A/B testing team to determine what would be needed from a creative standpoint for homepage testing. Leading the digital updates, I needed to brief the agency on menu thumbnail images and other asset needs for the site and apps. Additionally, I needed to obtain product descriptions and Spanish translations for any updated Wings copy. There was a lot of rust to knock off, but the team managed to come together and launch the new product successfully. In launching Wings, I learned a lot and felt that it set me up with great experience to take on the Specialty Pizza launch later in 2020.
You’ve presented a great idea to management, but they’re not buying in. What’s your next move?
If I presented a great idea to management but they are hesitant to buy in, I would take a step back and determine how I could reframe the idea. I’d assess everything from the audience (which is management in this case), the timing for when the idea would come to fruition and be implemented, and the barrier of entry. In general, I would want the idea to come across as being as easy and seamless as possible. I would also look for ways to garner support from colleagues and showcase relevant data to help paint the picture in support of my idea and why it makes sense to implement. After addressing all of those items, I’d work to develop a solution for any pushback or questions that I had received from leadership. Before re-pitching and proposing to leadership, I’d loop in a colleagues to run my updated thoughts by them and encourage them to poke holes in my presentation. If at the end, the idea is as solid as possible, I’d meet with management once again to present my idea with all of the necessary details and information to make saying “no” next to impossible.
Have you ever had to champion an unpopular change? What was the situation and how did you handle it?
TOPIC: Switching to Ariba and using that as our new budget/contract tool.
ANSWER: At the end of 2020 we implemented a new contract and estimate/invoice tool. I was assigned as the contract creator on the Digital Marketing team and had to get up to speed to learn how to use the tool. While the tool is very clunky and difficult to use, I embraced using the tool and sought out to learn the ins and outs as best as I could so I could help my fellow team members process their contracts. When I moved onto the Ad Team, I brought my Ariba knowledge with me and have been able to process SOWs/contracts, estimates and invoices for Delivery Advertising.
Have you ever had to persuade a group to accept a proposal or idea? How did you go about doing it? What was the result and how did you feel about it?
TOPIC: Noid Brief
ANSWER: Back in the fall of 2020, Mark approached me and asked if I could create a brief for Work In Progress covering the Noid/Nuro window. The purpose was to brief WIP on the return of the Noid for the Nuro window and challenge them to create digital/social extensions. Additionally, we wanted WIP to come to the table with ideas to support an integration with the soon-to-be released Crash Bandicoot mobile game. I knew that I needed to frame the presentation in a certain way to persuade the agency to approach it in the way that we wanted. Sometimes agencies can go a little off the deep end, so I knew that I needed the get the agency aligned around the thinking that had already been done by the Domino’s team internally and that they’d come back with ideas around those particular items. Mark provided me with emails and PDFs from previous conversations but gave me about two days to work on the brief. I had to quickly review the information he provided, digest it and then determine how to convey it in an engaging format for the WIP team to get them excited around the tasks at hand. Once the slides were complete, I sent them to Mark and he told me that I had done a fantastic job. He told me that he was impressed by the deck and that I really rose to the occasion, especially since he didn’t give me a lot of time to work on the brief. After that, I sent the deck for Kate for review and she had positive feedback as well. Since I created the brief, I was able to present it to the WIP team. After presenting the brief, I learned that it was the first brief that the WIP team received and would be working on for Domino’s. I felt grateful that I was able to deliver their first brief and that the agency team would get to know me from the start of our brand-agency relationship.
Tell me about a time when big changes took place in your job. What did you do to adjust to the change?
TOPIC: Agency transition from CPB to WIP at end of 2020.
ANSWER: When we transitioned from CPB to WIP, that was a big change for the organization. I was on the Digital Marketing team at the time and while many team members from CPB (such as Brad) joined WIP, there was still a bit of an adjustment period as some process things had changed. For me, adjusting to the change wasn’t too difficult, but it was important that new team members at WIP that were new to the Domino’s account understood how we were structured, what we did, etc. So, I participated in onboarding meetings and quickly got into the new groove of working with WIP.
What strengths did you rely on in your last position to make you successful in your work?
COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION, PROBLEM SOLVING
I feel that I have strengths in many areas and those strengths help to make me successful in my work day-to-day. To give some examples, with my background in digital marketing, I know how to manage multiple projects at once, work effectively with cross-functional teams and I’m very proactive. I am a strong leader and am comfortable creating and giving presentations. Drawing on previous experience in my past social media and PR roles, I’m a great written and verbal communicator and I’m extremely creative. I enjoy thinking of out of the box ideas or approaching things in new ways. As a result of these strengths, my supervisors in the past have taken notice and I’ve been told that I’m extremely reliable and always prepared. In addition, I’ve been told that I’m very level-headed and seen as a leader on the teams that I work on.
Would you give me an example of when you had to deliver negative feedback?
TOPIC: Organic social - seeing posts published without reviewing and approving them first.
ANSWER:
