Still Delivering: How Sarah Barron Keeps Domino’s Ahead of the Rules

As the industry turns its focus to the challenges and opportunities around LHF (Less Healthy Food) advertising restrictions, which will see products deemed this way banned from advertising before 9pm, it’s worth celebrating a marketer who saw the writing on the wall early and acted with creative confidence. Sarah Barron, chief marketing officer at Domino’s UK, has done exactly that, positioning the brand well ahead of the curve.

Working closely with VCCP, Barron has helped steer the brand toward HFSS-compliant advertising long before it was legally necessary — most notably through the now-iconic pizza-less yodel idents. In Autumn 2023, stripped of product but full of brand character, the campaign has run consistently across ITV and Channel 4 over the last two years, showing that with the right idea, you don’t need to show the product to stay front of mind.

The comedic short films feature recognisable scenes from classic movies and TV series, while featuring a Domino’s twist instead of the expected cliché. They are entirely brand-focused, featuring the ‘Domin-oh-hoo-hoo’ yodel that was originally introduced as the brand’s sonic device across the UK in 2021. It’s quickly become as established and familiar a piece of branding as the visual assets on a Domino’s pizza box.

The ’Domin-oh-hoo-hoo’ device was introduced post-Covid to coincide with the pizza company’s group ordering app feature and act as a rallying call in which people could contact their friends for pizza sharing moments. It has since become shorthand for such social occasions.

Barron joined Domino’s in December 2020 – a difficult time for all marketers but particularly those in the food and drinks sector, but this was a suitably bold response as lockdowns finally lifted and people tentatively began to gather socially again.

Prior to Dominos, Barron spent four years at Costa Coffee, rising to chief growth officer. She also spent over 11 years at Cadbury/Kraft in various roles, including managing director. There was also a spell at Green & Blacks, showing her extensive expertise in the food and drink sector.

Similar to her response to Covid, Barron’s approach treats the restrictions not as a crisis, but as a creative brief — one that Domino’s has tackled with more wit and strategic clarity than most. For example, just this week, the company has released a short film (sans pizza) directed by Will Norman to celebrate the forty years since it opened its first UK store.

The film, jam-packed with inspiration from ‘80s video games and cult classic movies, showcases a limited-edition merch collection inspired by Domino’s original delivery uniforms from 1985, which were launched this week to celebrate the anniversary.

She has forged a successful partnership with VCCP.

"Sarah is an exceptional marketer and leader," says Jessica Aspinall, managing partner at VCCP. "As a client, she is extremely open, collaborative, and forward thinking, which enables her to initiate as well as respond to a rapidly changing world. She thinks in a very channel holistic, data-driven way, and truly puts customers at the heart of everything she does - championing value for them and encouraging innovation to serve them best."

In a world where the product can’t always be the star, she’s kept the brand visible and culturally present, without resorting to gimmickry or disappearing into bland compliance. It’s not about proving that creativity and regulation can coexist — it’s about showing that good brands don’t need a close-up of cheese pulls to stay in the conversation.

As LHF regulation forces the category to rethink how it shows up, Sarah Barron stands out as the marketer who already did. For that, she’s our well-deserved Marketer of the Week.