Domino's appoints its first chief digital officer

Former online marketer will report to the CMO but says working with the CIO is a core priority as he builds out the pizza maker's digital strategy globally

Michael Gillespie
Michael Gillespie

Domino’s Pizza has appointed its first chief digital officer (CDO) in a bid to accelerate growth in the online sphere.

Michael Gillespie has spent the past seven years with the Australian retailer in online marketing and takes up the CDO post immediately. The newly created role reports directly to CMO, Allan Collins, but Gillespie also has an executive leadership position within the group.

In an interview with CMO Gillespie said he will also work closely alongside the company’s group CIO, Wayne McMahon, as the business formalises its digital agenda and broadens capabilities online. The CDO role encompasses the A/NZ business plus Domino’s operations in Europe and Asia.

“It’s been a natural progression for this business to bring on the CDO role,” Gillespie said. Sixty per cent of the group’s overall sales today are now conducted online, and are as high as 80 per cent with some franchise stores.

Domino’s has built a reputation for its digital and social experiments, launching an iPhone app, crowdsourcing social pizza on Facebook, and establishing Facebook ordering. The company also launched the interactive Pizza mogul website and app enabling consumers to create, sell and earn money from customising pizza recipes.

Gillespie said his role will be balancing customer vision and what Domino’s wants to achieve in the digital space, with building roadmaps and strategy for the group. He said the company recently brought on a new digital marketing manager for A/NZ to support day-to-day activities.

“If you go back seven years ago to when we first entered the digital space, you can see we’ve been transforming ourselves into a digital retailer and the focus of digital has grown,” Gillespie said. “The next evolution is for this role to be on the leadership team.

“We’ve had great growth and this role will allow us to amplify that.”

In a statement, Domino’s CEO, Don Meij, said having a CDO was an obvious next step for a brand looking to retain its progressive approach to digital.

“Digital is a huge part of our DNA – it’s here to stay, it’s who we are as a business and the appointment of a CDO is a transformative role that is all about connecting different disciplines and different departments,” he said.

8 things CMOs should know about CDOs

“Michael has demonstrated strength and leadership in overseeing a full range of digital strategies for the business.”

On Gillespie’s short-term priority list are making sure Domino’s has transparency and consistent reporting in the digital space across all markets, as well as building a roadmap for how new features will be rolled out either simultaneously or progressively across markets globally.

Another operational enhancement on the cards is building GPS capabilities, and Gillespie said he’ll work to ensure any changes are as seamless as possible for customers.

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO Australia conversation on LinkedIn: CMO Australia, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+: google.com/+CmoAu

Signup to CMO’s email newsletter to receive your weekly dose of targeted content for the modern marketing chief.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.
Show Comments

Latest Videos

More Videos

More Brand Posts

What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...

Tareq

Digital disruption isn’t disruption anymore: Why it’s time to refocus your business

Read more

Enterprisetalk

Mark

CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June

Read more

Great e-commerce article!

Vadim Frost

CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes

Read more

Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...

jackson13

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.

Ella Hall

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Blog Posts

Marketing prowess versus the enigma of the metaverse

Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.

Liz Miller

VP, Constellation Research

Why Excellent Leadership Begins with Vertical Growth

Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?

Michael Bunting

Author, leadership expert

More than money talks in sports sponsorship

As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.

Simone Waugh

Managing Director, Publicis Queensland

Sign in