Dunkin’ Donuts is in a party mood.
The Boston-based chain last month launched a new campaign to boost bulk sales with an instant-win game and dedicated advertising. The “What’s Your Occasion?” effort pitches donuts as an everyday treat.
“We haven’t aggressively gone after bulk business,” says donut category manager Judy Wnek. “Our business is so different regionally. Some regions, like the Midwest, built their business on donuts. Others, like the East, built it on coffee” and will concentrate on increasing sales of dozens. In strong markets like Chicago and Detroit, bulk buys can account for as much as 40 percent of donut sales, Wnek says.
What’s Your Occasion? starts on-pack with game codes on boxes, but sends players to dunkindonuts.com to enter the code. The grand prize is $5,000 in party money. There are 90 first prizes (one per day) of a Konica digital camera, 180 second prizes of $25 gift certificates to iParty.com, and numerous free dozens and samples of new Jelly Belly donuts. All players get a 15-percent discount at iParty.com. The campaign runs through mid-May after breaking mid-February (and had thousands of entrants in its first weeks, says Wnek).
Dunkin’ franchisees can dress up stores with such themed P-O-P as plastic picks sporting party graphics and messages “to make donuts more festive,” says Dori Molitor, president of promo shop WatersMolitor, Minneapolis, which handles promotions (with an online assist on the game from RealTime Media, Wynnewood, PA).
Franchisees can also get loyalty cards for frequent customers, yard signs, and “donut-head” costumes for local events.
A six-week flight of national TV supports via Hill Holiday, Boston. Ads spin funny vignettes of people using donuts to celebrate offbeat occasions — a college reunion five months after graduation, for example, and a surprise party next door.
The donut effort compliments bulk coffee marketing. Dunkin’ redesigned its Coffee by the Pound package and displays, and in February signed a 10-year deal to rename the Providence (RI) Civic Center the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. That pact lets the company co-promote at least two events per season, with in-store and ad support.
Jelly Belly donuts premiered this spring through an alliance with Jelly Belly Candy Co., Fairfield, CA. The line debuts with three flavors (cotton candy, watermelon, and grape) and is being supported by P-O-P displays and signage bearing the Jelly Belly logo.
Jelly Belly donuts (frosted, butter cream, or jelly-filled) are luring kids, an audience the 5,000-store chain “hasn’t had much success tapping,” says Wnek. Dunkin’ approached Jelly Belly, whose 96-percent brand awareness and reputation for wild flavors fit the chain’s variety positioning.
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