After achieving viral fame for fumbling the brand’s coffee in memes, Ben Affleck made his relationship with Dunkin’ official in a splashy, self-effacing campaign around Super Bowl LVII in February. The chain’s big game debut landed as a touchdown on the creative front, rating highly amongst ad trackers and inspiring a recent sequel that further enshrined the “Air” filmmaker as the company’s humorously beleaguered celebrity face.
For Dunkin’ CMO Jill McVicar Nelson, the Affleck work is emblematic of a bigger shift in messaging strategy, one which goals to be more outwardly confident. The company made its mark in the 2010s by pushing the envelope on mobile and rewards but is now attempting to strike a greater balance between performance marketing and brand-building at some extent of post-pandemic transition for the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry at large.
Dunkin’ CMO Jill McVicar Nelson
Permission granted by Dunkin’
“I’ve been with Dunkin’ since 2011. I’ve had the advantage of seeing lots of initiatives which have worked well for Dunkin’ and some that perhaps have not been as successful,” said Nelson in a recent phone interview with Marketing Dive. “Part of what we’re attempting to do on this recent chapter is focus on things that show the brand in the best way possible.”
Nelson was promoted to the chief marketer spot in September after previously helping execute major Dunkin’ initiatives, including the Blueprint for Growth strategy that saw “Donuts” dropped from the name and a foray into the cold brew category. Her appointment followed a period of promoting flux for the brand. Prior CMO Rafael Acevedo lasted just nine months in the position, while Dunkin’s creative agency roster has undergone several changes lately, with Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett taking up the account in the first quarter of 2023.
Along with betting greater on apps like TikTok, where Dunkin’ was an early entrant amongst QSR marketers in 2019, Nelson said certainly one of her biggest mandates is bringing a clearer sense of focus to Dunkin’ moving forward.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
MARKETING DIVE: I desired to discuss the recent work Dunkin’s done with Ben Affleck, starting with the Super Bowl campaign and then the follow-up ad from a number of weeks ago. How did that partnership come together?
JILL MCVICAR NELSON: I prefer to joke that it was the longest audition process. On the one hand, he’s an incredibly visible celebrity who has been tied to Dunkin’ publicly, unofficially, for a few years. On the other hand, the decision to do something so major at that scale got here out of a shift in our direction to focus on the idea of “fewer, greater, higher.”
Finally working with Ben at the Super Bowl level was our first foray into a bigger brand message that reminds people about the things that we do best. It was fun to have the ability to provide a nod to popular culture and the memes in relation to Ben and Dunkin’. We are joyful with how the ads performed. It was a little bit of a kickoff for the Dunkin’ Run offer, which is our worth platform that we’re promoting immediately focused on our core breakfast items.
It’s interesting to see Dunkin’ hit the gas on brand-building. How do you consider the split between brand and performance marketing at the moment?
NELSON: We’ve been around for 70 years. We’re well-known across the country. For us, there may be a balance between awareness-building and brand-building with driving initiatives that push more targeted audiences.
On things like limited-time offers, performance marketing could be a beneficial tool to grasp in case your marketing dollars are being spent effectively. We use it to make the majority of our decisions on what we will promote and how we promote things. I do think we have been just a little more weighed in the performance marketing side of things for some time. It was time to balance that out with a nod to the brand and the affinity that individuals have for it.
For Dunkin’, a key a part of our business is this concept of routine, of being someone’s alternative after they’re going for coffee on a every day, ritualistic basis. We’re attempting to be the coffee brand for that next-generation consumer who might need known Dunkin’ after they got Munchkins or doughnuts with their parents as kids. Now, as that next generation starts to drink coffee, being relevant and chatting with consumers in a contemporary way is essential.
Dunkin’ was certainly one of the first QSRs to embrace TikTok. Has your presence been led by paid media or been more about finding Dunkin’ communities which are already on the platforms and further supporting that with promoting?
NELSON: It’s just a little little bit of each. I might say it’s more the latter. The unique nature of the coffee business is people like to share and showcase what they’re eating and what they’re drinking, like these beautiful iced beverages. Dunkin’ shows up well in those areas.
We do a ton of social listening and concentrate to what our consumers are talking about. We prefer to be as human of a brand as we are able to. We announced we’re making Butter Pecan Swirl a everlasting coffee flavor on our menu, which, to a Dunkin’ loyalist, means quite a bit. It’s probably certainly one of the most outstanding things we see people posting about or tagging us in.
We have shifted a few of our spend to be more paid on social because that’s where lots of those goal customers are. But we’re lucky in the sense that there is lots of organic activity amongst our guests.
Right around while you stepped up as CMO, Dunkin’ revamped its loyalty program. There was some stir in the community about the changes. It’s now been in the marketplace for a number of months and I’m inquisitive about the way it’s progressing.
NELSON: We’ve been really joyful with the results of our revamped Dunkin’ rewards program. There are over 4 million recent members which have joined since we launched Oct. 6. We’ve expanded the rewards you can get through the loyalty program and we have seen our members redeem over 35 million free rewards [Iced coffee is the most common redemption, followed by hot coffee, hashbrowns, doughnuts and iced espresso and cold brew, a spokesperson said in a follow-up email].
There was some initial noise upfront about the changes, but we did those changes in response to customer feedback that we might gotten around the ability to redeem for more categories and the ability to acknowledge loyalty.
The thing about Dunkin’, no matter the loyalty program, is that we’ve an incredibly passionate, energetic member base. For being recognized for that loyalty, we’ve this boosted status tier inside the program. About 1 / 4 of our energetic members even have boosted status, so it’s easier for them to get more points.
There’s quite a bit more to return from us in that area. We need to proceed to push people into the program and grow in one-to-one marketing in the future.
Summer’s coming up, as is iced coffee season. I’m sure you’ve things in the works there.
NELSON: Our iced beverages are where we see the most growth across our menu categories. Particularly with that next-generation consumer, we see more premium, customizable iced drinks are really popular. We’ve been primary in iced coffee for a few years. We’ve leveraged that leadership into other areas: Dunkin’ Refreshers, our iced espresso and cold brew, which has been growing quite quickly. We’re very enthusiastic about this summer. We have quite a bit planned around Dunkin’ iced beverages and celebrating the full platform.
Dunkin’ has been through a number of agency changes and recently shifted creative work to Publicis Groupe. From your perspective, has it been a challenge to nail down the post-pandemic direction of the brand?
NELSON: We’re continually attempting to evolve our communications. There haven’t been major issues there apart from continuing to make sure we’re working with the best partners and showing up in the best way that we are able to.
People want great-tasting breakfast delivered fast and at good value from Dunkin’. The nuances beneath which have modified. I discussed we’re seeing people having more premium or iced drinks than we did previously. We’re seeing people having more food and wanting more variety on our menu. On the value piece, rewards is playing an even bigger role and even just the sort of value our guests expect from us. It’s more personalized.
More people gravitated toward digital channels during the pandemic and that has only continued as people use mobile ordering and delivery. Now being a part of Inspire Brands, I’d say that has been the biggest unlock for us. The scale and the investment that Inspire has made behind data and digital platforms helps create a more efficient, personalized experience.
I almost feel obligated to ask about emergent technology like AI. Are there any experimental bets you are trying out?
NELSON: We need to be leaders in digital. Being a personalised, fast brand is our area. More AI could play a job.
In our loyalty program, targeting someone who is available in perhaps once every week, using the power of our AI to say, “Hey, can we send them a specialized offer to are available twice every week?” Using loyalty program data to shift consumers’ buying habits is one strategy to use AI.
You’ve been at Dunkin’ for over a decade and now in the CMO role for over half a 12 months. How has being in the driver’s seat modified your perspective of the brand and where it must go next?
NELSON: I grew up with the brand and bleed pink and orange. What I’m hoping to bring to the table are three things: I’ve talked about the next generation of coffee drinkers. That’s really necessary. Digital leadership and one-to-one marketing is actually our future, and through Inspire, we’ve access to more resources that can give us a head start.
The last item is focus. We’ve launched great products, and we have had a loyalty program for 10 years. But we have jumped around quite a bit and it is time we get a bit more credit for the things we do rather well but perhaps have not spent enough time talking about. The Super Bowl was probably the best example of that. We can discuss the brand, we are able to discuss what we do best at a significant scale and feel happy with that.
Read the full article here
