Domino’s is now where everybody knows Norm’s name, with one tap of a mobile phone!
Domino’s has grabbed the most famous bar patron of the 80s and 90s, Norm Peterson from Cheers (as played by George Wendt) and taken his famous entrance as a way to promote its new Domino’s Pie Pass. The leading pizza chain’s latest commercial begins outside a Domino’s with a sign that makes it look much more like Cheers, the bar from the hit TV show of the same name. Norm, as played by George Wendt years ago, walks down the stairs and announces he’s there to pick up a pizza.
Domino’s is best known for delivery but also has a big and growing carryout business. This campaign promotes Pie Pass, which asks people who placed online carryout orders to tap the app when they pull up to the store. Clicking “I’m here” alerts the Domino’s staff that a customer has arrived. Then, they can get the order ready and greet the customer by name.
The concept is that with Domino’s Pie Pass, you might as well be a regular. Patrons are asked to check in before they walk in so the chain can get specific carryout orders ready for you to bypass the line and get in and out fast. The spot has a simple premise in its twist on the iconic shouts of “Norm!” whenever he’d arrive at Cheers, actually making it happen required more detailed work many might imagine.
The action features Norm and is done to the theme from Cheers.
A work of Crispin Porter Bogusky, the ad was brought to life through several production partnerships, including with New York visual effects house Artjail. The team watched all 275 episodes of Cheers to find the perfect footage of Norm entering and approaching the bar. But then he had to be isolated from the footage and melded with a body double to pull off the effect of him ordering a pizza at a Domino’s counter.
Kate Trumbull, VP of Advertising and Hispanic Marketing at Domino’s commented about the ad,
The heart of this technology is that personalization and knowing your name, and I think creatively nothing spells being a regular more than the concept of ‘Cheers’ and going to that bar (where) everybody knows your name.
The project includes actual footage of Wendt from “Cheers” theme song ans current recording of the actor’s voice. The footage was mixed in to make it look like he’s Norm Peterson at Domino’s, however “Cheers” ended its run in 1993. Domino’s and its creative agency CP&B built a set that looks like a Domino’s with touches of the “Cheers” bar including the stairs and brick wall.
Pie Pass had a soft launch at the end of last year, are sometimes surprised when Domino’s staffers say their name, says Trumbull. Pie Pass makes picking up an order a bit faster, which might please anyone—that’s everyone, of course—who doesn’t want to wait around for a pie.
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