Immediately the snarky Adweek Facebook commenters were all against the live pizza cam: “Why?” “yawn.” “seriously—looks like a snoozefest.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=70vlRJdq_ZE

But you know what? I love their pizza tracker. It’s a gizmo, and it knows it’s a gizmo, and the whole brand positioning of transparency and honesty in dealing with problems is more important than whether I realllllly want to watch a Mormon’s MeatZZa Feast’s pepperonis being applied.

Which, no, I don’t. I have a lot of important things I said I’d do that I haven’t done, and if I’m going to waste time, I’m going to waste time in a more entertaining way.

Or I’m going to read about Nyan cat’s Federal court case and watch the meme for a few minutes.

(sigh) I admit it:

Nyan Cat Meme = Random Mormon Pizza Prep

But this Utah pizza almost-a-stunt is really all about paying off the campaign yet again. Which it does a fine job of doing.

Here is a brand notion that just keeps proving itself useful—first they confess they let their quality slip to the point where they’re a punchline. They take themselves to task, show us where the foods are sourced, show us the employees who want our feedback, provide easy places for us to provide that feedback.

I can even know unsavory things about them as a company, but still accept they’re honestly trying to get better all the time.

And yeah, watching that pizza is boring if you’re not hungry and it’s not your pizza.

It’s still kinda neat.

In related news, here is a box design that can still appear lovely the morning after, laying on the ground by the gas pump I was using:

A very durable brand, is Domino’s.