The biggest lesson from the most recent Domino’s ASA ruling isn’t that marketers need better nutrient profiling data. It’s that many marketing departments are still structured for a less regulated era.
In the most recent wave of ASA rulings, Domino’s fell foul of restrictions because even as part of a wider range advertisement intended to showcase its “Cheeky Little Pizza” range, it featured an identifiable LHF product, the Sausage and Bacon pizza. The mistake stemmed from an error in the nutrient profiling data supplied by a third-party provider when preparing the ads.
HFSS is complicated and the industry is still adapting, but if one incorrect piece of third-party data can derail a campaign, the problem isn’t in a nutrient profile model spreadsheet but the process that allowed the campaign to reach market in the first place. Too many marketing teams still operate as though regulation sits at the end of the creative process, rather than considering it at the start of the campaign development. Compliance is no longer just a legal concern; it needs to be a core marketing and comms capability. For agencies, that means helping clients navigate risk, challenge assumptions and identify potential issues before a campaign reaches the market.
Domino’s isn’t an isolated case. Since the rules came into force on 5 January 2026, a string of household names have found themselves on the wrong side of the regulator, making it a boardroom issue not just a marketing one, particularly if there’s a brand reputation crisis to recover from.
The practical implication is simple: legal, product and technical teams can no longer be brought in at the end of the process, and creative teams can no longer treat compliance teams as a final sign-off exercise. All expertise need a seat at the table before the brief is written, with communications teams and agencies acting as strategic challengers helping to stress test ideas and identify reputational risks. Agencies should be pushing for multi-discipline briefing sessions and shared decision making processes at each stage, to avoid wasted planning and development time.
This isn’t about watering down creativity or hunting for loopholes but building creative ideas and stand out brand campaigns on stronger foundations. Contrary to what some creatives may fear, revised approaches shouldn’t lead to blander campaigns. We all acknowledge that the strongest ideas emerge when different disciplines challenge assumptions and strengthen the brief, identifying issues before they become a problem. While governance may sound dull, in reality that’s only the case until a campaign is challenged.
Brands that thrive under HFSS rules will be the ones that are most joined up. Increasingly, regulators are interested not just in outcomes but in decision-making and the ability to demonstrate how a decision was made is becoming almost as important as the decision itself.
The truth is, this is only going to get harder; HFSS is not the end point and food advertising is simply the latest sector to experience this shift, with regulations predicted to become tighter affecting more categories and products. But regulation is expanding across sustainability, influencer marketing and AI-generated content, so the lesson to learn spans beyond the food sector.
The businesses that adapt to these changes first will gain more than compliance, and ultimately be able to move faster, make better decisions and have greater confidence in the campaigns they execute. In tandem, the next industry-defining campaigns will come from agencies that clients trust to integrate and navigate governance and creativity in equal measure.
