More Brands Should Follow Domino's Lead and Hire Data Journalists

Tracking important metrics in post-Covid storytelling

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When news spread recently that Domino’s was looking to hire a data journalist, reaction on Twitter ranged from amused to confused.

After all, pepperoni and pivot tables don’t seem like a natural fit. But data journalists blend the hard skills of data analysis with the deftness of spotting a compelling story. It’s the perfect marriage of analytical and creative mindsets. And the general public has never been more comfortable with data.

Last November, we watched percentages on maps grow and shrink, telling the story of the 2020 election. This followed months of bar charts and maps visualizing the rise of Covid-19 at different rates across the U.S.

With data being ubiquitous, savvy brands no longer view it as esoteric or boring but coherent and compelling. Domino’s is sitting on a mountain of potentially interesting data. Is its current PR team equipped to write SQL queries and sift through internal analytics, with an eye on data points and sets that could make for interesting narratives?

Possibly. A data journalist certainly could. And brands leveraging people with these skills are already winning. Spotify—with its data-driven, personalized year in review—is probably the gold standard. Yelp, with its treasure trove of small business data, has a team of data-minded PR professionals. It has invested so thoroughly in data for journalism that it created the Yelp Economic Average, which has become an important metric in post-Covid economic coverage. For nearly a decade, Zillow has had someone brought on to “manage the company’s data-driven public relations efforts.” In January 2021, Instacart sought to hire a data storytelling manager. The top qualification: six to eight years of experience in data-related roles, with a special callout to data journalists. I can only imagine the stories of pandemic-era grocery shopping trends that they will be able to tease out.

It’s not just young or flashy brands taking advantage of data storytelling for PR anymore. Even 76-year-old U-Haul, the leader in what most would agree is an unsexy industry, is embracing data-driven storytelling in 2021. Its 2020 Migration Trends study helped top publishers like The Atlantic and HuffPost tell the story of regions primed for a post-pandemic breakout.

The big caveat is that data journalists for brands aren’t actually journalists at all; I suspect the Domino’s new hire won’t be telling many stories uncovering the nutritional benefits (or lack thereof) of chicken taco pizza. But could Domino’s delivery data unveil the best routes to avoid traffic during the prime pizza-ordering time of evening rush hour? Do orders spike when “Home Alone” (and its notorious pizza delivery scene) plays on television? Perhaps regional trends in different pizza topping choices might highlight the beautiful diversity of our country that remains united in love of pizza?

That’s part of the excitement surrounding the data-driven future of storytelling: You never know exactly what the numbers will turn up, but Domino’s will be equipped to find out.