Good morning. Domino’s outgoing CEO says the pizza chain has already tackled a marketing misfire that undermined ticket sizes in the latest quarter.

The company’s premium lineup, including a new Slice Sauce in black-and-gold packaging, “did not resonate with customers the way it needed to,” CEO Russell Weiner said on an earnings call yesterday to discuss the latest results. “The messaging wasn’t compelling enough.”

Weiner, who is set to be succeeded by Joe Jordan on Oct. 1 and transition to executive chairman designate, spent much of the call talking about Domino’s strength and opportunity.

• The company’s dominant position in pizza will lead to yet more growth, he argued. “You can drive volume if you have the biggest ad budget in the industry, which we do,” he said at one point. “Scale wins.”
• Domino’s meaningfully grew order count in the second quarter, he said, calling a positive relationship between order counts and long-term success “the most important lesson I have learned in nearly two decades with Domino’s.”
• And it has successfully updated this year’s marketing plans to address competitive and macroeconomic challenges, Weiner said, citing a decision to add Parmesan Stuffed Crust pizzas to the company’s “Best Deal Ever” promotion.

So it stood out when he said that the marketing around the premium offerings fell short. “The result was a drag on ticket, which impacted our results,” he said.

When an analyst pressed for more detail on what went wrong, Weiner didn’t get more specific.

Domino’s announced Slice Sauce in April along with a cross-promotion with luxury watch brand Shinola.

Domino’s messaging is back where it needs to be, according to the CEO, none too soon for an undisclosed, important new product coming this quarter. “That is not only for what’s on air now, but for what’s going on with this new product coming up,” he said.

Kraft Heinz and Disney have struck a deal that gives the food conglomerate a presence in one of America’s most enduring entertainment empires, Jesse Newman reports for The Wall Street Journal.

Disney will serve Kraft Heinz products at its properties throughout North America as well as on the Disney Cruise Line, and Kraft Heinz will be able to use Disney’s characters on some goods in stores.

That might mean condiment stations at Disneyland with ketchup dispensers shaped like Star Wars lightsabers, said Nicolas Amaya, Kraft Heinz’s new head of its North America business. Other possibilities: Cinderella Mac & Cheese, or Jet-Puffed marshmallows marketed with Olaf from “Frozen.”

Kraft Heinz has been trying to breathe new life into its decades-old brands and revive sales after years of decline. The company said the deal represents the next step in a strategy to expand beyond grocery shelves and into immersive experiences and experiential commerce.

It follows a deal with the NFL that aims to boost the presence of Heinz condiments at stadiums across the country and lets the food company use NFL-related material in its own marketing and advertising.

“That’s what marketing is about today,” Amaya said. “It’s about creating experiences that are memorable.”

Novo Nordisk has filed a lawsuit accusing Eli Lilly of misleading consumers with deceptive advertising, in the latest escalation of the weight-loss wars, Alex Janin writes.

The complaint, filed in a district court in New Jersey, accuses Eli Lilly of using outdated studies to promote its branded GLP-1 drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound, as helping consumers lose significantly more weight on average than Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy.

In reality, Novo Nordisk says, more recent data shows that the companies’ drugs can help patients lose a comparable amount of weight.

Eli Lilly didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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