I recently read a blog post about the Domino’s Pizza mishap that resulted in 11,000 free pizzas given away to customers over a twelve-hour period. What interests me most about this promotion gone wrong isn’t the fact that a computer error resulted in pizzas inadvertently being given away for free, but that someone actually figured out the error based on sheer ingenuity (or boredom), which then spread so wide, so fast, that Domino’s was forced to take an 11,000 pizza hit.

Let’s backtrack a bit. This whole mistake came to light when someone – most likely bored, hungry and low on funds – had the idea to type “bailout” into the coupon code box when ordering a medium pizza on Dominos.com. The “bailout” code rewarded the customer with a free medium pizza. The catch – Domino’s never advertised nor publicly released a “bailout” coupon code, though they had set the promotion up in their system but abandoned it a couple of months ago. Though Domino’s had been using a bailout theme in their advertising, the code was discovered by complete mistake. No one knows how it happened, though Domino’s has come up with a theory: a college student in Cincinnati discovered the code and told a friend in Salt Lake City, or the other way around. They drew this conclusion based on the fact that restaurants near college campuses in those cities had the most orders with the “bailout” free pizza code. Regardless of how it started, word spread to nearly 11,000 people who got their free orders in before Domino’s realized their mistake and fixed it.

The Big Fat Marketing Blog makes an excellent point about the inadvertent promotion – thousands of people were drawn to Dominos.com that may have never thought to use the site to order Domino’s online before. They were drawn there from word-of-mouth spread from friend to friend and across the Internet at lightning speed. Had this promotion been planned, Domino’s could have acquired a great deal of valuable customer data as well as stats on how wide and how fast such a promotion could spread. They could test different variables – does releasing the code in a certain part of the country, or certain time of day result in more orders or a faster spread? Just what kinds of people are redeeming the code – college students, families, single people? There is a deep well of information and data that could be tapped with this type of promotion executed in a well-thought out manner.

The moral of this story? A great offer – intended or not – will attract new customers and expose them to your products and services, especially with the power of word-of-mouth and the Internet behind it. The other moral of this story? Um, people who are bored and hungry spend time on pizza chain websites trying to come up with coupon codes that will give them free pizza? I actually don’t know if there is much to learn from that point…

But how much of it is based on tapping the creativity well as opposed to just trying to drum up some much-needed publicity? Not that launching a promotion to generate PR is anything new, and in fact it’s a great idea to remind consumers about a brand while in between product launches, but I think it’s important for marketers to consider the ultimate goal. Doritos wants to sell more Late Night: Tacos at Midnight chips (you can actually taste the lettuce), Visa wants you to open more credit cards, Kodak wants you to buy more cameras, HP wants you to buy more printers and Marriott wants you to stay in their hotels.

So if this UGC contest generates two entries per brand, does it matter? If the entries are terrible and uninspiring – will this promotion be a failure? In the end will the brand care as long as the press and advertising around the contest makes them look like they are on the cutting edge of social media? That they are passionate about involving their consumers in the decision making process? It’s a question that agencies and their clients deal with regularly – but it’s safe to say that if this contest bombs horribly (and I’m not saying it will), Doritos won’t be out of creative ideas. They won’t suddenly stop making commercials. On the other hand, they may walk away with a ton of free press and a more positive brand association – which would ultimately make this promotion a solid success.

Pizza chain Papa John’s is great at tapping into their audience using social and digital media tactics. Though they are not a client of Fanscape’s, I am a personal fan of the brand (I very much enjoy my pig-out on junk food Saturdays), and find many of their initiatives extremely smart and forward thinking. Today, Papa John’s announced a promotion where anyone that becomes a “fan” of their Facebook page from now until March 24 will be entered to win two tickets to the NCAA Men’s Final Four in Detroit. Not only is this a great way to get exposure for their brand and fans on Facebook but a great way to connect with the right customers. Papa John’s knows their audience and is very clear about the kind of brand they want to be. This isn’t the first college basketball campaign launched by the brand – during last year’s NCAA Tournament, Papa John’s launched the microsite PapasPanFan.com where basketball fans could upload their photos in celebration of the tournament and get a coupon for discounted products.

Aside from basketball, Papa John’s has launched promotions around the NFL including their “Count Down to Kick Off” promotion, which promised to giveaway pizzas for 25 cents (in honor of their 25th Anniversary) to everyone who registered online if the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLIII was returned for a touchdown. In 2008, the brand launched “TEXTra Points 4 Pizza” allowing fans to register via text message for their chance to get 50% off a large pizza if the score in either NFL playoff game was 50 points or higher (cumulative). They followed this with a 75% off promotion if the Super Bowl score was a cumulative 75 points or higher.

Many brands fancy themselves great at promoting products to their target audience through sponsorships and events, but Papa John’s is providing a real value to their customers. By providing targeted incentives they continue to prime the landscape for the growth of brand loyalists and positive brand association. I’m interested to see what they do next!

In a recent staff meeting our company President, Terry Dry, posed an interesting question – would you wait in line for over an hour for $6.00 in cash? I’m sure there are those of us who would say “yes,” but I will take a guess that the majority of people would not.

And yet 2 million people flocked to Denny’s to get a free Grand Slam breakfast this Tuesday after the Super Bowl – a value of $5.99 on any other day.

It got me thinking – is it all psychological? Consumers (especially in our current economy) get some level of satisfaction in getting what they perceive is a great deal – no matter the value of their time, or cost in gas money to get there. Everywhere you look some brand or another is giving away free products (Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A) as part of one promotional offer or another, and customers are willing to wait for hours if necessary to get the free coffee or donut.

Maybe we think the brands owe us something, or maybe we think we are secretly “sticking it to ‘em” – but is it really worth it? What’s really apparent is how much brands mark up their actual product – keep in mind it only cost Denny’s $1 per breakfast (2 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 sausage links and 2 pieces of bacon for $1?).

Second best to free is of course the discount. I like to think of myself as a promotional code connoisseur. I do no online shopping before visiting RetailMeNot.com – a coupon deal resource/community. But yet I’m so caught up in getting the discount that I don’t spend my time actually shopping around for the better deal in the first place. A little jolt of excitement comes over me when I see that shopping cart price adjust itself to minus $5, but if I did a bit more research I’m fairly certain I could find that same product $5 cheaper somewhere else.

I think that I, along with many other shoppers, feel truly accomplished when we’ve eaten that free breakfast or gotten that deal on a pair of Joe’s Jeans – it’s the thrill of the chase. Sure you spent the rest of the day with heart burn, but at least you didn’t pay for it.

It will be interesting to see how far brands take it this year – maybe I’ll finally get that free house I’ve always wanted.