Monitoring The Dunkin' Brand

Here in New England, you can't drive more than a few miles without passing a Dunkin'. They're everywhere. The beloved coffee company (originally known as Dunkin' Donuts) is widely known for its delicious coffee-and-donut duo, but in 2019 they cut the name short—making marketing easier while keeping the iconic nickname that everyone knew and loved.

DUNKIN' FUN FACTS:

• Founded in Quincy, MA in 1950
• Now over 8,000 locations in the US
• 3,200 locations internationally—in 36 different countries!

Dunkin' has a fantastic social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even Pinterest with at least a million followers or monthly viewers on each. Its messages and themes are simple, catchy, and color-coordinated so the feeds have a nice cohesive look. Since its logo consists solely of the trademarked Dunkin' font, any piece of packaging with words on it also matches the overall logo and brand scheme. 

      

The Dunkin' brand accounts consistently post new content almost every day: the Instagram is filled with yummy-looking drinks and snacks, while the Twitter is more often used to communicate with customers and do damage control. People are constantly tagging the Dunkin' account in their critiques and complaints, so the account's reply section is filled with constructive responses. 

None of the complaints are terrible... might be enough to ruin your morning, but it's nothing a free coffee voucher from the PR team can't solve! Overall, Dunkin' appears to have a solid retention rate with loyal customers that keep coming back for their daily caffeine fix.

 In addition to consistent posting about new drink recipes and snack options (they now have oat milk and mini bagel bites!), Dunkin's most recent marketing move was a partnership with TikTok star Charli D'Amelio. The sixteen-year-old earned her fame through viral dancing videos, which she often filmed with a Dunkin' iced coffee in hand. After countless messages from fans asking what her go-to drink order was, Charli shared that she gets a cold brew iced coffee with three pumps of caramel and whole milk. All this chatter about Dunkin' was great advertising for the brand, but they went a step further and added Charli's drink order to the menu under her name. Now her fans can order "the Charli" and enjoy the same drink she does, while Dunkin' benefits from the increased publicity.

click to watch Charli's Dunkin' dance!

Since Dunkin's clientele is generally more middle-aged coffee drinkers, while many teens and young adults prefer the variety of options offered by Starbucks (Dunkin's main competitor), this was a very smart move for the company. The Dunkin' x Charli campaign has been very successful, although I do think it's good that the Charli drink is only available for a limited time—older Dunkin' fans are starting to get a little sick of the all the "childish" content. 

Dunkin' is doing quite well in terms of its social media analytics. This line graph from Google Trends tracks interest in the "Dunkin'" brand over the past 12 months. The large spike on the left has its peak at December 22-28, most likely due to the Christmas season—a great time to buy a Dunkin' gift card for a loved one. Other than that, interest in Dunkin' has been slowly increasing since the beginning of 2020, with a steep little incline at the beginning of September—right when the Charli drink made its debut in stores. An incline like this in the midst of a pandemic is quite impressive, and I think that really goes to show how much our society prioritizes coffee. Dunkin' was even deemed an "essential business" in Massachusetts when the country first went into lockdown!

According to Social Mention, Dunkin' has a 4:1 sentiment ratio which is pretty solid. A fast-food chain that interacts with thousands & thousands of customers per day is bound to have some negative experiences, but the good ones definitely outweigh the bad. The passion percentage is also quite high, which solidifies my point that Dunkin' has some very loyal fans.

Overall, I think that Dunkin's social media presence is very successful and I'm impressed by the thoroughness and attention to detail. Although there is some negative feedback swirling around the groundswell, it is generally about a specific experience and not about the brand as a whole—this is preferred because it is much easier to fix! However, focusing on every step of the food and drink prepping process is a good way to ensure that little mistakes don't happen, so sentiments can stay positive.

Also, in the near future, a campaign that focuses on the older Dunkin' fans—the regulahs—might be a great way to reclaim anyone who fell off the bandwagon while the PR team was busy marketing to Gen Z TikTok users.

Are you a Dunkin' fan? Have you ever had a bag experience at Dunkin'? Let me know in the comments below. Cheers!