Dunkintine's
Dunkin'
Issue 51 | June 2019
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide David Lubars Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York Greg Hahn Director of Integrated Production David Rolfe Executive Creative Directors Doug Fallon, Steven Fogel Creative Directors Ben Bliss, Evan Schultz Senior Copywriter Bree Feibischoff Senior Art Director Chris Kim
Production Team
Executive Producer Dan Blaney Producer Katie Greene Print Producer Michael Musano Production House Squad 47 Executive Producer Steve Greenstein
Other Credits
Senior Account Director Jim Santora Account Director Jaimie Donohue Account Manager Alexandra Castellanos Account Executive Stephanie Diacovo Planning Director Elizabeth Lee Communications Planner Sam Schwarz
Date
February 2019
Background
Every year, Valentine’s Day presented a massive opportunity for Dunkin’ and was one of their biggest days for donut sales. As part of the festivities, Dunkin’ regularly changed the look of their donuts by producing them in heart shapes and decorating them with special sprinkles. The aim was to make sure when people thought about Valentine’s Day, they thought of Dunkin’.
Idea
A sheet of perforated “Dunkintines” was created, special, retro-style Valentine’s messages inspired by the classic cards everyone used to exchange at elementary school, cheesy puns and all. This sheet of cards was available in stores with the purchase of a dozen heart-shaped donuts.
To raise awareness, dozens of digital cards were unveiled across social media. Some were simple, catch-all puns that fans could use to send to one another on their own pages. Some were special branded Dunkintines that were sent to other brands in the QSR or snack industries. Each had a unique pun tailored to that brand’s product, tagline, or history, sparking conversations between companies that both brands’ followers could enjoy.
Results
Dunkin’ sold 8.3 million donuts, more than they’d ever sold on Valentine’s Day.
The campaign generated 4,595,659 media impressions.
Our Thoughts
This may never win awards but it is an example of excellent marketing supported with equally excellent creative work. Yes, I mean it. Work that works with over 8 million sticky buns to prove it. The trouble with a campaign like this is that it looks very different in June than it would have done on February 14th. On that one day, all normal rules of adult behaviour go out of the window. Almost everyone reverts to embarrassing childishness. My bet is that on the day, even some of the toughest, most cynical of people will have thought, “Yeah, why not?” and fired off a Dunkin’ message, bought a tray of donuts and smiled to see Dunkin’ sending a soppy message to Starbucks and others.