Used to be Dunkin’ Donuts, like MTV, did one thing: made a good cup o’ Joe and play music videos, respectively. However, coming back from a trip to the local Dunkin’ Donuts today, I was struck at how hard it was just to find that first thing, coffee, on the menu.The brandscape is a changing.
They had smoothies. Three new! EXCITING fruit-hyphenated flavors like strawberry-banana something®! They had Coolatas too! More than three flavors. Wow, a virtual Chillibration®. They even had breakfast sandwiches. They had donuts of course. One or two. And coffeee. Somewhere. I think.
Do this long enough and two things start to happen though.
First is that a brand starts to lose its identity. As a brand, being all things to all people is ok, as long as they do all things well. How many do though? If you’re Pizza Hut? Make pizza. Home Depot? Carry mulch and hammers. I’m good. And Dairy Queen? Don’t even think of selling coffee. (Damn, too late.)
You can even tell me that McDonald’s isn’t just selling burgers, “We’re selling a family experience” and I might buy that. Maybe. But then don’t use that as another jumping off point to sell me yogurt, or fruit.
You’re the Golden Arches. Grow up and act like it. Clog arteries and be happy, dammit.
An increase in sales of all these new brand/line extensions might indicate otherwise. Great for them. All I know though is that it seems to be happening more frequently at the expense of the customer experience/bond I first created with your core product.
Look, I understand as much as anyone about brands and line extensions based on the equity of your original name, and product, and all that. How many companies have thought “Why not leverage our name to launch, ta-da, a great new (insert spin-off of choice here) led by the all-too-familiar phrase “From the makers of...” and call it a day.
However, that leads to a second thing potentially more harmful to a brand: ignoring their original customer base.
At some point you erode the relationship between them and the original product they established a bond with in the first place. Because now you stop putting 100% of your effort into the first thing and turn your attention to the new kid on the block. The result is a customer who feels neglected because you leveraged their original bond to expand your new product offerings with.
As a company, why mess with that. It’s not just a product customers bought into either – it was your brand. They’ll remember that if they have a bad experience with your ‘latest and greatest’ product.
Sure, brands always think they want a lot of oars in the water. I get that model. But from a consumer POV, let’s say I’m original coffee guy: I walk in: “Gimmee a large regular, two sugars only.” In and out in less than a minute, I’m happy, nobody gets hurt and Bob’s your uncle.
Enter breakfast sandwich guy.
Four minutes before I get my turn to order and now I’m frustrated because corporate doesn’t realize – still – that most people come in for a quick purchase. Of coffee. Now I’m pissed. I may inadvertently take it out on the cashier, no fault of hers, just a response to the built-in hell that comes with an expanded product line. People wanna get in and get out fast so they can drive to work, burn themselves on the hot contents and call their lawyer – all before 9:30 am.
Isn’t that the American Dream?
Yes. So with a tip of the cap to Mack, and as they say in Texas, you dance with who brung ya. Brands, you want to expand? Fine. Don’t ignore your base. Because right now there’s a guy in a line at DQ somewhere muttering to himself about the woman in front of him who’s ordering a MooLatte:
Man, what does ‘Brazier’ mean and can’t I just get a small vanilla cone and get the hell outta here?
Tags: advertising, Chillibration, brands, viral, Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donuts, Moolatte
7 comments:
Maybe this is what killed the guy who starred in all the Dunkin’ Donuts ads. His only concern used to be realizing it was “Time to make the donuts.” But then it became “Time to make the donuts, coffee, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches, Coolatas — and sundaes, ice cream cakes and more when sharing space with Baskin-Robbins.” The stress probably gave him a massive coronary.
I think his last words were: “Time to make the...”
Thud.
;-p
I know someone who's a little grumpy without their morning dose of caffeine...
;)
Not to mention grumpy without his morning Coolatta, breakfast sandwich, Smoothie...
;-p
one more thing.
the chain's new tagline reads: america runs on dunkin'
so they're probably deliberately downplaying the donuts part.
although stating america runs on a junk food joint's offerings is more chilling than a coolata with extra ice.
Good post.
I wonder, though, where do you draw the line between retaining your core consumer and stagnation? Nobody wants to be the last person making buggy whips.
Maybe it's similar to bands, who are always balancing their old fans, that like their early work, with engaging new ones that are look for progression?
Just a couple thoughts...
I agree Finn. And I’d be the first to say a brnad must evolve or die, both in it's product offering(s) and the way it markets them – just not at the expense of letting it's first product slide.
In thise case, the easy fix would be a coffee only line and put two more people on during crunch time.
But, if DD doesn't care about an extra few minutes wait time for coffee folk, it's clear they would rather make 3x the profit on Coolatta sales than coffee.
Post a Comment