From spicy to strategy: Domino’s Linda Hassan on championing brand love in the digital chaos

In a world saturated with fleeting trends and ever-changing digital platforms, Domino’s Pizza in Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia is focusing on something more lasting: brand love. For the group’s chief marketing officer, Linda Hassan, brand love is not just a buzzword or marketing jargon. It’s the foundation that guides every strategy and decision, a compass that steers the brand through the noise and connects deeply with customers across diverse markets.

At MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s Content360 conference in Kuala Lumpur, she shared how this North Star principle shapes everything from campaign planning to daily performance reviews.

“For those who know me, in what I do, I’m a true advocate of brand love,” said Linda. Digital platforms are just the tools, she added, but the brand itself must be sound. “If something is wrong about the brand, you have to correct that first. Otherwise, the platform will just become a place for your brand to be bashed.”

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With Domino’s generating over 80% of its revenue online in some markets, digital touchpoints are crucial, but the playbook is far from one-size-fits-all.

“It depends on what phase of a campaign, what objective you want to drive, what segments you want to target at different times of the year,” Linda explained.

Whether in Singapore’s mature eCommerce landscape or Cambodia’s developing market, her team adapts strategies without compromising core marketing fundamentals. Despite shifting platforms and algorithms, the funnel remains relevant: awareness, consideration, conversion, retention.

“You’re not going to remove all your marketing principles because of new platforms coming in.” In fact, that clarity keeps her grounded, as the principles have not changed. 

Data also has to serve a purpose beyond immediacy. “It’s not so much about real-time, it has to be the right data,” she said. From tracking Sunday night pizza sales to understanding paid versus organic traffic, first-party data guides decisions.

Linda emphasised that first-party data helps identify different age groups, allowing the team to tailor media choices accordingly. “Then, you can use the right platforms to reach out to these groups,” she added.

The Domino’s team monitors performance across digital and offline channels daily or weekly, enabling quick adjustments. This approach lets them allocate about 90% of resources to proven strategies, while reserving 5-10% for experimentation.

“There’s never a time that you put in a hundred percent for your new platforms, because you can’t avoid looking into other new things which may appear,” she said. “Sometimes we could wait for other markets to do it first, and there are times when you want to be the first to do it. But your experiment has to be with a certain hypothesis of what is the measure of success.”

In fact, Linda instills a culture of continuous learning, measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) closely. Her team tweaks campaigns daily, reviewing metrics each morning as routine.

“I instilled in my team that no matter what they do, even if it’s a local store marketing, a leading indicator is based on what is tracked on a daily basis. You don’t have to wait until the end of three months to know that your campaign is not working," said Linda, adding that: 

People may think that marketing work is all about numbers. But without looking at the numbers, you won’t have a compass.

From brand love, to brand health

According to Linda, building brand health is a long game that demands constant tuning. The CMO pointed out that while trendjacking may not drive immediate sales, it positively influences brand sentiment.

“It brings positive sentiments. If the brand is experiencing negative sentiments because of bad service for example, all these things actually make customers happier when you address them," she said, adding: 

That’s the role of a brand marketeer. You don’t just run campaigns. You repair things that are not working, but in a way that you can control.

Additionally, Linda emphasised the importance of content in this balancing act. Not just trend-driven short-form content, but long-form storytelling as well. She believed that short-form videos are useful for catching attention quickly, especially on social platforms, and often generate an immediate spike in traffic.

Although short-form content is generally short-lived and for quick consumption, Linda said that long-form content is able to play a deeper role, particularly in strengthening brand credibility and visibility. This is especially since long-form content such as Domino’s events or CSR programmes tells richer stories about the brand’s values. “We just need to keep on telling people, ‘Hey, we are interesting. Come and get pizzas from us,’” said Linda.

Aside from storytelling, Linda pointed out that long-form content supports SEO goals and allows the brand to build authority over time. “For brands like us, who operate both on brick and mortar and also online, we need both forms of content. Long-form cuts a bit deeper, while short-form gives you that instant injection," she said.

Legal guardrails and daring ideas

Despite Domino’s bold and cheeky campaigns such as its 2022 Valentine’s Day collaboration with PepsiCo Malaysia and Grab, and the pepperoni-fication of its logo in 2024, Linda ensures all marketing stays within safe boundaries.

Before any campaign hits the markets, Linda said that the marketing team will make sure that it does not cross any lines related to religion or politics. For everything else that's not within the guardrails, they'd have to be tested, she said.

Still, she's willing to take the risk when it comes to launching bold campaigns. She said:

There is never a guarantee that a campaign will work.

"Every time is different. Trust me when I say that it turns out different even if it's for the same product. I've run campaigns for the Korean-flavoured pizzas before. It's the same product, but it turns out different every year," added Linda. 

"I think if you ask any other marketer, there is no guarantee, and there is no book that can actually guide you to do the right campaign," she said. 

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