Skip to main content

The latest Domino's Pizza marketing stunt: DVDs that smell like a pepperoni pie

The latest Domino's Pizza marketing stunt: DVDs that smell like a pepperoni pie

Share this story

Pizza Hut labels
Pizza Hut labels

In the old days when you could still find a video rental store in most towns, ordering a pizza for the evening's movie was second nature for many families. Things have changed a bit in the Netflix era, but that combination still proves popular in many countries around the world. Brazil is among them, and to ensure that its customers continue to associate movie night with a warm pie, Domino's is taking a unique approach. It's joined up with 10 rental stores in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to distribute DVDs that smell like pizza after they've been played.

Using popular films like Argo, The Dark Knight Rises, and 007: Skyfall for the experiment, Dominos created custom disc labels utilizing thermal ink to pull off the trick. Out of the box, the labels are rather bland: they're dark gray featuring nothing more than a given movie's title. Once they've gone for a spin in your DVD player though (where that thermal ink is activated), that's when the marketing "magic" happens. Discs emerge both looking and smelling like a Domino's pizza fresh out of the oven. Or at least, this is what Domino's wants you to think its pizzas resemble. "Did you enjoy the movie?," the discs read. "The next one will be even better with a hot and delicious Domino's Pizza." That last point may be arguable, but the clever nature of this marketing effort isn't up for debate.