RFBinder Partners, Inc. | Agency Profile, Contacts, AOR, Client Relationships

See Winmo sales intelligence in action

Score 48 - Future Possibility: Dunkin' Brands decreases digital spend, CMO stepping down at EOY

Recently, we reported the continuation of Go 2s" finger-food menu and the drop of "Donuts" from its title, Dunkin' has continued targeting Gen Z and millennials with the release of additional brand changes, according to the Q2 earnings call. Additionally, CMO Tony Weisman will step down from his role in December, as reported in the company's federal filings this week. Dunkin' said it would waste no time seeking a replacement, so agencies should keep it on their radar. Sellers may see a shift in spending in Q1 2020.  

In the earnings call, Dunkin' reported more better-for-you products for vegetarians and health-conscious millennials, implementing plant-based options, such as Egg White Bowls and Beyond Meat selections. Perhaps most importantly, the company launched the Multi-Tender app in April. This app can be used at more than a 1k Dunkin’ restaurants across the country and currently hosts 10 million users. Dunkin' will likely continue personalizing its brand via mobile to keep pulling in those on-the-go Gen Z and millennials via one-on-one marketing (such as the app). This may lead to continued decreases in digital display spend on outside sources, sellers.

Additionally, Dunkin' is pushing its Perks program and On-the-Go Mobile to make it more visible in the stores, particularly in the Next Gen stores (mobile ordering, more modern design and more espresso drinks). According to The Spoon, Dunkin' announced massive expansion plans in May: 50 new stores will open outside of its traditional Northeast region. In the first round of an eventual 200 to 250 store openings over the next three years, new Dunkin' stores will enter Texas, Michigan, Southern Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nevada and Missouri. These stores will host Next Gen elements.

According to Adbeat, Dunkin' has decreased its digital display spend by -81% over the past 12 months, dropping from $37.5 million (Oct 2017 - 2018) to $7.3 million (Oct 2018 - 2019). Most ads in the past 12 months have been videos (54%) placed through YouTube ($3.9 million) onto youtube.com. 40% of ads have been placed site direct onto destinations such as wptv.com ($369.6k), kfor.com, nesn.com, allrecipes.com and lifehacker.com. 

YTD, Dunkin' has invested $90.7 million on TV ads, per iSpot, which is a 9% from this time last year. It tends to spend throughout the year on this channel, though H2 spending tends to be lower than H1 spending with this company, traditionally. See chart for top targeted shows.

Kantar reports H1 typically claims more spending dollars than H2 for this company across channels.

Sellers -- Plan to offer digital space. Gen Z and millennials will continue to be the target audience, and Dunkin' has made every effort to prove it isn't afraid of changing with the needs of these generations. 

Agency readers -- Arc Worldwide handles creative (2018). For now, I would watch how the campaigns turn out with creative agencies and, possibly, compete with them eventually.