Shelley Adamson, Yifei Chai

Domino's Pizza: Mind Ordering

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‘Domino’s is an epic brand with a rich history of building innovative ordering experiences, and Stranger Things is one of the most watched shows in the history of Netflix, with season 4 set to be bigger than ever. Bringing these two brands together inside a single experience was a dream brief, especially for a group of hardcore fans like ourselves. Our goal was ambitious: create an experience that lets fans order Domino’s, handsfree, using nothing but the power of their mind, and do it all while staying as faithful to the world of Stranger Things as possible.’

Shelley Adamson, Creative Director, UNIT9

The background

Ahead of the much-anticipated release of Stranger Things Season 4, Domino’s and Netflix wanted to immerse fans in the world of the show like never before. When WorkInProgress came to us with a first-of-its-kind idea, we partnered with them to build an innovative digital experience that transforms users into Hawkins Lab subjects and lets them order pizza with their mind.

The execution

The Mind Order Experiment is a mobile app that uses facial tracking technology to give fans superhuman powers. Making certain facial gestures inspired by the show, users can harness their telekinetic powers to connect with Domino’s and place an order using only their mind. They can either place a real order or simply play for fun.

The Mind Ordering Experiment transports users through three different spaces: the Hawkins Lab Observation Room, the Void Space, and the Upside Down Observation Room. It’s loaded with Easter eggs for fans to discover and interact with: Barb’s broken glasses; the TRC-214 Walkie Talkie, which features exclusive content from characters Lucas and Dustin; and a 20-sided Dungeons and Dragons-style dice.

We tried to stay as authentic to the show and the era as possible, including using an 80s-style pizza box as a conduit for the experience. To make the Mind Ordering Experiment stand out, we purposefully used nontraditional interaction mechanisms. Carefully curated visuals, sound design, and haptic feedback enhanced the experience and kept users on track as they navigated the app. We also built an alternate accessible version of the experience, with optimization for screen reader assistive technology, making it even further accessible to all.

The results

This never-been-done-before digital experience was a truly first of its kind. We had an ambitious goal—to create something as touch-free as possible, allowing users to feel as though they were really participating in a telekinetic experiment and controlling the experience with their mind—and we succeeded.