Dana Houle knows about Brandon:
"You probably wouldn't realize that he's a rightwing Republican who in 2006 chaired the gubernatorial campaign of Amway heir and rightwing loon Dick DeVos and in 2008 bundled donations for Mitt Romney and was a major donor to John McCain.That's a lot of money for a guy who's company isn't even doing that well. Well, thanks to a high profile advertising campaign that has suddenly appeared on the TV airwaves, people are getting to know David Brandon who is now shamelessly touting "Domino’s Big Taste Bailout" with high-profile spots aired during mega-ratings blockbuster "American Idol."You might not know that in 2006 Brandon seriously considered running against Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow..."
Or..."that last year Brandon was the second highest paid CEO in Michigan, or that he is often paid in the range of $20 million per year."
According to a press release:
"Dave Brandon, CEO of Domino’s Pizza is taking to the streets for the launch of "Domino’s Big Taste Bailout" promotion. The TV commercials will premiere today during Fox’s American Idol. Brandon will be guiding us from Capitol Hill via Wall Street to Main Street, with an offer to deliver three or more medium, one topping pizzas or oven baked sandwiches for just $5 each to American consumers.So, are these ads meant to advertise the offer (which gets a single mention in the press release) or the name of the CEO (which appears four times in the space of seven sentences) who is suddenly a "pizza populist" who is spreading economic goodwill in the form of affordable slabs of bleached flour topped with tomato sauce, cheese, etc.? And does this remind anyone else of the last time we had a gubernatorial campaign and suddenly the company of a candidate started to use it's ad money to assist the campaign in a way that played footsy with potential campaign finance violations?In an on-line continuation of the promotion, Domino’s consumers can actually win a Super Big Taste Bailout. Consumers are encouraged to visit Dominos.com to nominate a friend in need of a bailout. Two winners, as well as their nominating friends, will receive a year’s worth of Domino’s Pizza products with the prize delivered directly to their door by CEO Dave Brandon himself. Leading up to the first delivery, a countdown can be viewed on Dominos.com indicating when the delivery will take place. When the delivery takes place, the site will change to show Brandon’s location as he arrives at the winner’s house."
If you've already forgotten, Brandon's buddy Dick Devos tried this with the Amway company who's horrible reputation as a reputed pyramid scheme was dragging down his campaign and was becoming the target of more and more attacks from the Democratic Party. Amway, who many life-long Michigan citizens could never recall having advertised on TV, suddenly brought out a huge waves of ads in a campaign called "I Am Amway" which were meant to show the company in a positive light and meant to help DeVos' poor personal approval numbers. It didn't help. Then again, I'm sure people like their cheap pizza more than the low cost laundry soap their co-worker keeps nagging them to buy. The difference here is that Amway and Devos were already unpopular and the candidate, mired in a losing campaign, tried this as a last ditch effort. This time around, Brandon is merely trying to raise his Q rating so Michigan voters in the GOP primary will have heard of the CEO when he runs.
Any way you slice it, it's obvious Brandon is using company money to build up his name recognition in order to bolster his upcoming campaign. Will Michigan voters buy it? Myself, I just find it humorous that a right wing Republican is talking up a bailout as if it's a good thing. Maybe those ads might not work as well as Brandon would like them to, especially since the base of the Republican Party likes the idea of bailouts about as much as most people like their pizza with anchovies.
Posts
