Marketing Strategy and SWOT Analysis of Dunkin’ Donuts

I’m sure most of you love donuts, especially the ones served in Dunkin’ Donuts. Founded in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1950, today it has nearly 12,000 locations in 36 countries and is considered one of the largest baked goods and coffee chains in the world. What makes them so special is their combination of tasty baked goods, high-quality coffees, espressos, and breakfast sandwiches served by super friendly staff.  Let’s not continue speaking about their menu staff, or else we will all end up being hungry at the end of this blog post. Here, let’s discuss SWOT analysis and some marketing strategies that Dunkin uses, which are one of the factors behind its success.

So, I am going to start by speaking about the Mission and Vision statements of Dunkin’ to dive deeper into the main topics.

Mission Statement

Dunkin’s mission statement is “to be the leading provider of the wide range of delicious beverages & baked products around the kingdom in a convenient, relaxed, friendly environment that ensures the highest level of quality product and best value for money.” This mission statement strongly emphasizes the vital role of quality which will make customers enjoy the products. It also shows that the company gives huge importance to the establishment of a loyal customer base due to which it would be relatively insured by losing a market share to its competitors.

Vision Statement

Dunkin’s vision statement is “to be always the desired place for great coffee beverages and delicious complimentary doughnuts & bakery products to enjoy with family and friends.” In their vision statement the emphasis is put on their wish to be the first choice place for hanging out for coffee and some tasty dessert for people in every age group. 

Now, I want to speak about the strategies that Dunkin’ uses to position its brand.

Above, I have inserted a screenshot taken from the Instagram page Dunkin’. Here, we see a cute box full of donuts, most of which have a heart shape and pink color. If you look through their Instagram, you’ll notice that this is one of many similar posts that Dunkin’ has shared.

The box has a message of love and intimacy. The packaging, sweet taste, pink color, and the heart shape of the donuts make consumers feel empathy and warmness. As you may already have guessed, this kind of feature is typical to the Lover Brand archetype. 

So what does the Lover brand archetype represent?

Desire:  Building intimacy and experiencing a sensual pleasure.

Aim: Being in a relationship with everything they love. 

Strategy: Becoming more appealing in every way.

What are the messaging levels of the Lover?

Level One: Seduction, fascination, or falling in love with someone/something.

Level Two:  A search for a great romance.

Level Three: Commitment to someone you love and following to the happiness that you imagine.

Level Four:  Self-acceptance and experience of the exciting feeling of great happiness.

The Lover Archetype is a promising identity for your brand if:

• The usage of its products help people to find friendship or love
• The pricing strategy of the company is moderate to high
• There is a need for your brand to differentiate itself from the lower-priced ones
• The retailing company has an elegant and intimate organizational culture

Brand Archetypes. Why we need them in practice?

Being a leader in the industry also requires proper branding and messaging tactics. Here I want to mention the importance of the branding based on the archetypes. Nike says “Just do it”. What do they want to tell us? They just emphasize the inner heroes inside of us.

Here it is, famous brands like Nike and their rivals Adidas have adopted branding tactics based on archetypes. And it’s up to you to dive in and learn better the following directions. We have written a book “8 steps to a complete archetypal branding” that shows you clear ways to reach your target and conquer their hearts immediately.  Just try archetypal branding on any of the brands you are working on.

Now, let’s discuss the SWOT analysis of Dunkin’ and get some insights about the factors that impact their decisions.

Strengths:

International Presence:  It’s not a secret that Dunkin’ is recognized all over the world. It has 12000 locations in 36 countries as of 2020.

Customer Service: Dunkin’ pays huge attention to its workforce. They invest a lot of resources in training and learning programs of the employers, which results in having a motivated and skilled workforce. 

Strong Brand Portfolio: Dunkin’ Brands Group’s successful entrances to new markets during recent years have helped the company to build new revenue streams which also reduces the potential risks.

Weaknesses:

Competitors: One of the major concerns of Dunkin’, is their considerably lower market share in the US coffee shop market compared to their main competitor Starbucks. As of 2019, Starbucks has a 40% percent share which is 14% more than Dunkin’s 26%. 

Franchise: Dunkin’s relationships with franchisees are not in the best conditions as there have been some issues during the last years connected with control and management. Moreover, Dunkin has faced a big number of lawsuits by franchisees against them.

Opportunities: 

Healthy Snacks: Dunkin’ can increase its sales by updating its menu with more health-friendly snacks. This can help them to get closer to health-conscious segments.

International Expansion: While comparing the number of countries entered, Dunkin’ (33) is almost 2 times less than Starbucks(65). Successful expansion to more countries and markets will surely boost Dunkin’s sales volume.  

Research: Dunkin’ can invest more in research to gain data about consumers’ behaviours, preferences choices, etc. This will help them to evaluate their marketing strategies more accurately and also improve their products.

Threats:

Competitors: Big QSR brands such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Burger King are constantly developing, thus, Dunkin’ should maintain and increase its pace.

Healthy lifestyle:  Recent rapid growth of the healthy food market can have a negative impact on the volumes of Dunkin’s sales.

Seasonal product: The most demanded products of Dunkin’ are seasonal and any undesirable event during peak season, for example COVID – 19, can cause the company devastating short term losses. 

So, after discussing SWOT analysis of Dunkin’, I want to move on to talking about their target segments.

I am going to start with a commercial featuring British-born Filipino celebrity Derek Ramsay. 

The commercial shows a handsome man entering one of the Dunkin’s stores where the saleswoman is falling in love with him the moment he enters. This man is charming, good-looking, and kind-looking who attracts not only the saleswoman but also the other girls in the store with his “keep smiling” attribute. 

So which segment does this man belong to?

The following target customer segment is called Chardonnays.

Who are Chardonnays?

Lifestyle and Values: 

Chardonnays are very optimistic, energetic, positive, outgoing, and ‘yes oriented’ people. One of the keys to their lifestyle is making special memories and sharing moments with friends. They have a kind of naive optimism, but at the same time they believe that their outlook on life is very practical.

Being seen as charming, especially by the opposite sex is very important for them. These kinds of people may spend hours in front of the mirror before getting out of the house, but still will make it feel like it took them a few minutes to prepare. 

Chardonnays are very sociable and have a lot of friends with whom they love to hang out. Their social circles can be very different from each other with different lifestyles and backgrounds, which also indicate their comprehensive and multi-dimensional personality. 

They think that having a personal style is a very important thing in life. Moreover, they are spiritual people, and even if some of them may not be religious, they would still believe that up there something greater than them exists. 

They like to travel as they are very interested in other cultures and having foreign friends which makes their lives even more colorful. Also, being up to date with new trends and information is another important trait of their personality, as they always seek ways to be different from others in a special way. 

Shopping Preferences: 

Chardonnays pay a big attention to their appearances, thus shopping has a great role in their lives. As they do this, they are well aware of the trends and even sometimes may save some money to get the specific cloth they’ve liked before.

They like advertising about something that entertains them, for example, TV shows and clubs and may try to persuade their friends to get involved in those activities.

Moreover, they easily get inspired by some characters and role-models, sometimes even by integrating some parts of their lifestyles or habits.

Good advertisements are very likely to catch their eye if they are fun and engaging. Cathy billboards that contain interesting messages may also attract them. Generic and simple ads make them sick. 

Here are some interesting facts about Chardonnays

1. Chardonnays are active media users. One of their main usage purposes is reading news, new information about topics they are interested in, and finding out what’s going on around them. A big part of their social behavior is sharing. They like sharing some interesting posts and posting good moments from their weekends.
2. As TV viewers, they are above average. Generally they enjoy watching some sitcoms and get aspirations from some of the characters regarding lifestyle, clothing, etc. They always try to stay up-to-date with the topics that are relevant to their social circles by reading news, watching informative videos, or reading famous books. 
3. Chardonnays enjoy spending time in nature, like doing picnics, jogging, etc. However, they are not environmentally conscious and are not much interested in issues such as global warming or CO2 emissions. They like the natural environment not because of its healthiness but because of its aesthetics.
4. As partners, they are loyal and believe in long-term relationships. They seek a successful partner, similar to them, and can make them proud in society. However, they get disappointed from relationships very easily, as they naively try to find perfect relationships, and often they don’t work out. 

16 Personalities (why do you need them in your business? )

After you realize the power of Chardonnay girls you may ask now, how can I make my company desirable to them? How to get their attention in advertisements?  What are the benefits of their behavior? You can find all the answers to these questions in our eBook called “16 Personalities”.  You will also find all the solutions for your marketing problems, which will obviously change your insights about buyer persona.

Of course this is one of the 16 personalities and with this book you will discover all of them. With knowledge of each 16 personalities you will confidently find your ideal buyer persona and change your marketing strategy to achieve new levels.

The book also gives you some hints for selling your product and negotiating with your clients.

So, these strategies and their strengths somehow indicate their strong position in the market. I hope you found the answers to the questions you were looking for in this blogpost. For more similar posts you can check out the main page of our website.