Phantom promo costs Domino's 11,000 pies

Clever viral-marketing hoax or simple accident? On March 30, Domino's franchisees were hit with 11,000 orders overnight as part of a free medium-pie promotion that didn't even exist. Or so they thought. Turns out in December, Crispin Porter + Bogusky devised an online promotion using the password "bailout." It never got the green light from corporate, but no one went back and disabled the code, says Domino's rep Tim McIntyre. Three months later, he says, a consumer, tinkering with Domino's online ordering, "randomly" typed in the word and triggered the free coupon.