Technology

Domino's struts its tech-savvy 'stuff' in latest Noid campaign

Domino's delivery-thwarting nemesis, the Noid. (Provided)

June 8, 2021

Domino's Pizza self-produced nemesis, the Noid, has gone all techy in the brand's latest face-off with the pizza-delivery thwarting character. The irritating little animated being will use a 14-day auction to sell so-called nonfungible tokens or NFTs that are connected to the tools the Noid employs to stop pizza deliveries and fund future schemes. Domino's said in a press release it was alerted to "this nefarious plan and felt a strong statement was necessary," imploring customers not to buy the NFTs.

In fact, the latest Domino's marketing campaign has the Noid creating one-of-a-kind NFTs connected to the Noid's delivery-stopping efforts and placing them online via rarible.com. For those still perplexed around all this talk of NFTs, you should know that the abbreviation stands for non-fungible tokens, which in this case are pieces of unique digital code stored on the blockchain that are linked to things like images and GIFs that serve as a permanent record of transactions associated with those elements. They can be bought and sold or auctioned, including on special NFT marketplaces, and are often purchased with cryptocurrency.

"We saw the Noid fans on Twitter asking how they could get a Pizza Crusher. We get it, it looks pretty fun," Kate Trumbull, Domino's vice president of advertising, said in the release. "But who knows what pesky ideas the Noid will be able to fund with the proceeds from the NFT sale? It's just best that everyone steers clear."

The chain said — with tongue firmly planted in cheek as this is all a made-up conflict — that it has heard the Noid will use proceeds of the sales to buy better gadget and disguises to screw with the brand, including a possible TikTok later this week. The mock stand-off with the Noid is part of the brand's marketing around its delivery prowess, while this particular campaign also seems to put the brand in "the know" about the latest techie trends and even concerns.