I am a loyal Dunkin Donuts drinker. I’ll usually stop in to one of the (many) local locations twice in a day. I like my coffee with extra cream and extra sugar. I don’t care if coffee snobs look down on this, I love my Dunkin Donuts.
Last week, Dunkin Donuts announced that they were launching a new website, MyIcedCoffee.com, today. Partnering with MapQuest, the site has a driving direction application that will let you know where the nearest Dunkin Donuts are along your trip. More coverage is available from the Boston Globe.
Judging by the few addresses I put into the application, they seem to be rather liberal with the locations that they are coming up with. From Point A to Point B, I know of 3 Dunkin Donuts that I pass but the application provided me with the addresses of 2 Dunkin Donuts that would require me to turn off my route. Technically speaking, I think that this website is bloated and too flash intensive. It’s well designed but it takes a few seconds to learn how to navigate. The driving direction portion of the site isn’t intuitive to get to. But, they’re giving away $10,000 and I’m sure people will look around.
The underlying branding message is there, though, and that’s important. Dunkin Donuts needs to keep reinforcing the notion that they are the drink that you will grab every day. Coffee while running errands, Coolatas at the beach, Smoothies at the kids baseball game. Being able to find out where Dunkin Donuts is while you travel reinforces this notion. Just because you aren’t home, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the coffee you like.
In my travels across the country, Dunkin Donuts is something I have looked for. I’ve started my days with my favorite coffee whenever I can. I was suprised to find a Dunkin Donuts during my recent vacation to Aruba. This website, bloated as it may be, is something I will look at when I am planning my upcoming Summer getaways.
When walking into Dunkin Donuts today, I saw that they’ve also unveiled their new marketing campaign with Rachael Ray. She was unveiled as the spokesperson in March, but the extent of her marketing involvement seems to have been slim until this point. Now, her photo is now slathered all throughout the store. There has been a commercial playing with her on television, but I wonder if now there will be more to come.
My worry is that Dunkin Donuts is going to get away from the branding message that works for them. Coffee your way, I think is what they say. They have to keep that idea strong in people’s mind. Rachael Ray will increase their visibility, but they can’t rest on that. I don’t want to see Dunkin Donuts settle for a campaign that basically says, “Rachael Ray likes Dunkin Donuts and so should you”. Consumers are smarter than that.
In addition to the new marketing, they’ve unveiled some new drinks and new donuts.
To the left, my friends, is the new Sobe Energy Coolata from Dunkin’ Donuts. Don’t be turned off by the neon greenness, it is actually refreshing. The Sobe Energy Coolata is one of the new drinks they’ve unveiled. It has a cherry citrus flavor and I am enjoying that. Their Smoothie was my go-to drink of the summer of 2006, Coolata could be my go-to drink for this Summer.
That is, until the nutrition information is posted for this drink and I find out exactly how much sugar I am consuming.
Key Lime and Lemon donuts are now featured to compliment the Berry Berry donut the chain started featuring a few weeks back. I was asked, “Would you like to try one of our new donuts?” when I ordered my coffee today.
Dunkin Donuts is trying to kick the summer off in high gear. I just hope that they continue a multi-channel, multi-faceted approach to their marketing campaign. They can’t rest on the superstar spokesperson, but she doesn’t hurt.
When everything comes together, this could be a very good season for Dunkin Donuts.