Brand Analysis Project: Dunkin’ Donuts

NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

MRKT610: Branding

Professor: Amanda Han

Group Members:
1. Monita Nhem
2. Xiaoran Xu
3. Hanling Tian
4. Rini Hemilton Parmar

DECEMBER 11, 2014

Company’s Profile
Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. is a quick service restaurants in the world serving cold and hot coffee, baked
goods, and hard-serve ice cream. There are more than 18,000 stores owned by Dunkin’s Brand Goup,
distributed in around 60 countries over the world. At the end of 2013, it has nearly 100% franchised
business model including around 7,300 Baskin-Robbins restaurants and 11,000 Dunkin’ Donuts
restaurants. And they got approximately 9.3 billion dollars for franchisee-reported sales in 2013. Dunkin’
Brands Group, Inc.’s headquarter is in in Canton, Massachusetts.
Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. is the owners of two of the world’s most recognized and loved brands,
Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts. The sole purpose of Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. is to lead and build
great brands. They have been doing that by leading the “Quick Quality” segment of the food and beverage
industry. Actually, Dunkin’ Brand does for people not just a traditional quick service experience, but also
a deliver best-in-class menu items to drink, eat and enjoy. They provide the goal of conveniently delivering
high-quality food and beverages in a favorable and welcoming environment, quick at affordable prices,
which makes their customers come back for more.
Company Brand: “Dunkin’ Donuts”
Dunkin’ Donuts belongs to Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc., and the history of Dunkin’ Donuts dated back to
65 years ago when William Rosenberg found it. William ran it with a simple idea: “Make and serve the
freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well-merchandised stores.”
Dunkin’ Donuts has more than 1,000 items on their menu, including donuts, bagels, other baked goods,
and different kinds of iced and hot drinks. It has become one of the largest coffee and baked goods chains
over the world since it was opened; Dunkin’ Donuts has around 11,000 restaurants in 33 countries, today.
In this 21st century, there is a fierce competition in coffee industry. There are many competitors
such as Starbucks and McDonald’s who want to get as many market shares of the coffee industry as
possible; thus how Dunkin’ Donuts gets more market share is a challenge. One of the important thing is
to have a clear understanding of what they do best and where they can be the best compared to those
competitors. Facing the strong competition, Dunkin’ Donuts has its own market strategies by defining
itself as a good provider servicing fast, fresh and affordable food and beverages for people, especially
those living busy lives.
Facing the competitors, Dunkin’ Donuts tries to hold and increase its market shares. There is no
doubt that Starbucks is the biggest competitor; Starbucks has a location advantage which sometimes
threating the business of Dunkin’ Donuts. Besides Starbucks, there are also many other small and medium
coffee shops, which are fashionable or cozy and stand in the competitor list. Those coffee shops provide
nice coffee and delicious dessert, as well as better environment. However, Dunkin’ Donuts is
simultaneously having an advantage in offering fast, fresh and affordable food and drinks. Certainly, fierce
competition brings threats, but it also comes with opportunities. After all, every coin has two sides; the
stress from threat promotes Dunkin’ Donuts to improve itself.
Dunkin’ Brand got great success in winning their fans. As a matter of fact, this company runs its
business with big ambition. Because its goal is not just to sell products to customers, but also to become
a part of their daily lives. Dunkin’ Brand runs on 12 million fans on Facebook, and it really is a smart way

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to use social media to connect with customers. The evidence of Dunkin’s people- first philosophy is shown
on its Twitter bio, which is, “America Runs on Dunkin”. Dunkin believes that their customers will take care
of the brand because they take care of the customers. "It’s not just time to make the donuts—it’s time to
go social”, said John Costello, the president, Global Marketing & Innovation. Taking great advantages of
social media is not only for winning fans and influencing followers, but also for sharing contents inspiring
the customers and giving them chances to engage with company; they would feel belong. The feature of
hurried workers getting coffee one the way to work on television also belongs to the “America Runs on
Dunkin” campaign. In addition, some print ads express Dunkin’s Donuts is everywhere in people’s lives.
“Dunkin’s Donut is not only a food brand, it’s more like a lifestyle”; it is what this company is trying to
position this brand in the market.
Market Strategy
To be a successful brand, Dunkin’ Donuts has tried to explore more market. Coffee demand in the United
States today is the highest it’s ever been. This large demands of coffee have been taken seriously by this
company; once Dunkin’s Donuts coffee acted a supporting role for its baked food. Then this company
began to explore the coffee market more and produce the flavored coffee line. Now, it provides a variety
of coffees and other drinks, which makes beverages sales account more than half of its total sales.
Also, in order to be a powerful brand, this company has been acting responsibly to the society by trying
to be as much as responsible to the customers, employees, and the society. It proves the quality of foods
and drinks for customers making them come back for more. It schedules the reasonable work load and
arrange activities for employees encouraging them to work hard and efficient. Moreover this company
has participate in some donation programs to help those who need helps. This company believed that
when a company does good toward the society, it will improve its influence making itself accepted and
recognized by the society. Dunkin’ Donuts is not just a doughnut or a cup of coffee for people, more it
promotes a sense of sharing. By doing so, this company expect to increase its brand value.
Mission Statement
“Make and serve the freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well-
merchandised stores.”
Goals & Objectives
“The goals and objectives of Dunkin’ Donuts are to be a leader of ‘quick and quality’ in the industry. They
aim to give clients a fine and fun dining experiences and offer high-quality service and food.”
Market Segmentation
In order for a company who attract customers of different types, it needs to categorize the market into
small groups based on consumer’s preferences, location, cultures, to name a few. In this sense, Dunkin’
Donuts also understands the essence of this market segmentation. According to Richa (2014), Dunkin’
Donuts is a no-frills coffee chain focusing on customers who don’t care about the sofas and music but
want quality and good products at economical price. Therefore, it strongly positions its brand for the
working-class, and uses market segmentation to targeted customers.

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 a. Geographic Segmentation
Dunkin’ Donuts categorizes the market into different geographical units, such as states, nations, countries
regions and cities by localizing their products, advertisements, promotions, and sales efforts to fulfill the
needs of each individual locations. Based on the company’ website, it is stated that 10,083 Dunkin’ Donuts
stores were located worldwide including the United States and 32 countries; there were 7,015 franchised
restaurants.
b. Behavioral Segmentation
Dunkin Donuts behavioral segmentation is based on clients’ different lifestyle. Dunkin’ Donuts is famous
in selling coffee and baked goods. It serves more than 3 million consumers a day. It offers a variety of 52
types of donuts, coffee, breakfast sandwiches and other baked goods to consumers every day in order to
meet different taste of customers.
Target
The target consumer of Dunkin Donuts is concentrated on people of all ages. But depend on the self-
service system; working people are the main target of them. The main advantage to their clients is ‘pay
as you go’.
Position
Dunkin’ Donuts position its brand through several methods. First, by positioning itself through quality,
Dunkin’ Donuts is serving high quality coffee which is freshly ground, brewed and served and fresh donuts
& other baked items. Second, by positioning through price, Dunkin’ Donuts is the Brand which is
preferable among all groups of people and price of its products is affordable and lower than any other
brand like Starbucks. Also it is repositioning itself by having traditional coffee experts and leading retailer
of hot and iced coffee.
Marketing Mix (4P)
a. Product
You can find more than 50 different flavors donuts (depend on the size of the store) and different types
of hot and cold beverages in Dunkin Donuts. What’s more, we can also see sandwiches and bagels in the
store for clients to take away.
b. Promotion
Interact with clients and build close relationship with them is what prioritize by Dunkin’ Donuts. Dunkin’
Donuts evaluates social media platforms where they can engage with their fans. Recently it launched
many mobile and location based promotions. Dunkin’ Donuts uses social media for advertising and
marketing to attract new consumers and to be connected with regular one. One of the latest marketing
program is Colatta. Now onwards it has started new service of free home delivery of coffee, other
beverages and bakery products. Also it launches Dunkin’ Donuts Green, a green build certification
program design to build its franchisee sustainable and as affective as main outlet.

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 c. Price
Compare with Starbucks the coffee offered by Dunkin’ Donuts is cheaper, but promised to be in good
quality. Because the size and category of products are different, so the prices are different. The price of
coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts is parallel with that served at McDonald’s, resulting having price competition
with each other.
d. Place
There are 6395 Dunkin Donuts stores in 34 states in U.S. They usually located at airport, train stations and
shopping malls. The locations of Dunkin Donuts usually are easy to get for their neighbor clients and
working people on their traveling.
Brand Analysis
a. Brand Identification
For identification of brand there are some important visual aspects which influence the overall brand and
its image so that the brand can be easily remembered, shared and adopted.

Color: Dunkin’ Donuts brand symbol have bright colors in its symbol and contains orange and pink
color. In 1961 Hot pink color and in 1980 Bright orange color was introduced as Dunkin’ Donuts’ identity.
With the help of color psychology, there are certain colors combinations which can ineradicable in
consumer’s mind and can get instantly linked with the brand. For this reason, Dunkin’ Donuts used bright
and attractive colors in its new logo and brand name to engrain in the consumer’s mind. Dunkin Donuts
is easy to be found by their clients through the color of the brand image. People can see pink and orange
on the website, in the store and on the each of their products.

Design: They added texture, variety and personality that all link to understand bigger sense of the
Brand and easily identify amongst competitive brands.

Logo: It can help identify brand in its simple form of icon or alphabet. In March 1955, Dunkin’ Donuts
files its script word “Dunkin’ Donuts” and later it was registered with United State Patent and Trademark
Office. Dunkin’ Donuts has been updating its logo since 1950 and making its better for easier brand
identification and also to be on the top of the consumer’s mind.

Name: Brand name exclusively identifies the overall brand. Its services or products and its owner can
be given in many styles such as initials, descriptive, alliteration and rhyme, evocative, Neologism, Foreign
word, Founder’s Name, Geography, Personification, etc. William Rosenberg opened his first restaurant in
1954 and named it kettle donuts and then new corporate name was given as “Dunkin’ Donuts”.

Symbol: From the time of our Ancestor till now symbols communicate great ideas and thoughts which
can help the brand to be familiar with their consumers. Dunkin’ Donuts used alphabets and picture of its
product coffee cup and aroma image above it which clarify idea about product identification and
consumers can recall the brand conveniently.

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 Slogan: “what are you drinking?” slogan can attract consumers and to answer they say Dunkin’ Donuts
coffee. “America runs on Dunkin”; this slogan is about quick, on-going and fastest service provided to
working people so they can get kick start of their day.

b. Brand Awareness
It is an extent to which brand can be identified by its potential consumers and its services and products
can be recognized. Brand recall performance and recognition are included in Brand Awareness. Brand
recognition is when consumer can differentiate the brand amongst other competitive brands. Brand recall
is the ability of buyer to rememorize and identify the brand. Brand awareness plays major role in decision
making process of buying any service or product from particular brand if consumer is aware about the
brand. The goal of the major brands is to make profit by increasing its sales so for that advertising and
marketing activities can help the brand by spreading awareness about the brand and its products or
services. Dunkin’ Donuts has greater impact on consumer’s mind that most of people can choose it as
their favorable brand for coffee and donuts.
c. Brand Elements
Memorability: Brand is referred as a convenient container for a good will and reputation. Memorability
can be created through using unique & unusual color combination. Dunkin’s Donuts used orange and pink
color thorough consumer can easily identify the brand.

Meaningfulness: Brand should fulfil all criteria to meet consumer’s satisfactions and needs. Brand must
have logo and identity that consumer can easily understand its meaning, and the meaning which Dunkin’
Donuts want to portray in its name is “hard-working”, said Emily Contois (2013).

Likability: After getting positive experience from Dunkin’ Donuts, some consumers have positive image in
their minds and they will purchase that particular products or services in future brand amongst its
competitors.

d. Marketing Support Programs

Dunkin’ Donuts is on social media such as Facebook, twitter Instagram, etc. and have numbers of followers
and likers over there. Mobile Applications and promotional plans are there to attract new consumers and
maintain relationships with regular customers. In 1980, “Fred the Baker” and “Time to make the Donuts”
won best advertisement honor amongst other five advertisement from Television bureau of advertising.
Also, Dunkin’ Donuts perks application is useful for regular consumers as they get different attractive deals
on purchase of coffee or other beverages or bakery products. Advertising during sports match break
attracts more people and non-consumers also towards brand thus brand become familiar and awareness
can be spread out.
e. Point of Parity
What sets Dunkin’ Donut parity this is competitors such as Starbucks and McDonald’s is the coffee served.
Besides selling Donuts, Dunkin’ Donuts tried to get the market shares from selling coffee. Therefore,
people are having much more choices when they want to drink coffee.

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 f. Points of Difference
There are some points through which differentiate this brand from its competitors:
 Quality: Dunkin’ Donuts provides original and great quality of coffee and food beverages as
the brand’s motive is to serve best food to consumers.
 Variety: It also offers varied and exotic coffee drink.
 Customization: Dunkin’ Donuts have more than 100 numbers of coffee drinks.
 Experience : Quick, on-going, coffee enthusiastic people like Dunkin donuts who get the kick
start of their day
 Image: Dunkin’ Donuts provides quick, on-going and friendly services.
 Freshness : Dunkin’ Donuts brings fresh, original and traditional coffee varieties

g. Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Dunkin donuts drinkers talk about all brands. If they want restaurant and good environment to seat and
enjoy the music and doing their work on laptops, they choose Starbucks; 59.2% consumers voted for
Starbucks; 16.3% consumers voted for mac café; 14.4% consumers voted for Dunkin’ Donuts. Other
Keurig, Krispy Kreme and caribou coffee are less favorable amongst all of these competitor brands.
However, based on an interview with Mr. Zinal Parmar, an employee at New Jersey Dunkin’ Donut,
he mentioned that consumers coming to his store usually mention that Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is so strong
that it help make their whole day running smooth without feeling sleepy. They also added that Dunkin’
Donuts veggie sandwich keep them healthy. This can be seen as a positive feedback from consumers giving
Dunkin’ Donuts an advantage among competitors.
h. Brand Extensions
Dunkin’ Donuts is a well-established brand so that it can spread awareness and launch its newer products,
locations & services and easily win acceptance of newcomer. The main goal of expanding brand is to reach
to all consumers do not have to go far in search of box of donuts and cup of coffee and also boost up the
brand image and identity among new consumers in new places.

Dunkin’ Donuts brand have expanded their menu beyond the coffee. The main goal of expanding
products is Dunkin’ Donuts tries to understand and satisfy needs of new generation. Dunkin’ Donuts have
included sandwiches, donuts, bagels, tea and flatbreads. Dunkin’ Donuts also have launched new Dunkin’
Donuts smart menus which is convenient for consumer to choose some particular deals on food and
beverages. Dunkin’ Donuts brand marketing officer said that their brands was built on franchising. Dunkin’
Donuts brand have goal of expanding its outlets to 15,000 by the year 2020 and this goal is achievable as
company have franchisee system. Dunkin’ Donuts also see opportunities to serve new base of customers.
Now Dunkin’ Donuts is thinking to expand its outlets to the university campuses to be popular and spread
awareness in the youngsters

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Mini-Research Project
a. Purpose of Study
In accordance with the history of the company and the information of the Dunkin’ Donut brand mentioned
above, we have seen that this company is facing challenges in the market, trying to compete with
Starbucks and McDonald’s, to name a few. Therefore, in order to get to know more about Dunkin’ Donuts
brand, we conducted a mini-research project to see the current market condition in which this brand is
operated.
b. Research Questions
In particular, based on Keller’s Brand Equity Model (2008), this mini-research study was conducted to
answer the following questions.
1. How familiar are people with Dunkin’ Donut? (Brand Salience)
2. How well Dunkin’ Donut meets the customer’s needs? (Brand Performance)
3. How well Dunkin’s Donut psychologically meets the customer’s needs? (Brand Imagery)
4. To what extent, do customers satisfy with Dunkin’ Donuts? (Brand Judgment)
5. How do customers feel about Dunkin’ Donuts? (Brand Feeling)
6. How strong is the connection between Dunkin’ Donut and its customers? (Brand Resonance)

c. Methodology
Since this is just a mini-research project conducting in NYIT, all of the students coming to NYIT Manhattan
library are our population in which our sample size is 30 students. Because of the easy access to the
students in the library, we used convenience sampling method. Each of the 30 students based on their
availability was asked to do a questionnaire, which is our research instrument. The questionnaire was
designed to be closed questions in 4 pages and divided into 6 sections – Personal Profile, Brand Salience,
Brand Performance, Brand Imagery, Brand Judgment, Brand Feeling and Brand Resonance.
Microsoft Excel 2013 was used to calculate the data and produce frequency. Data collected was
presented in numbers and percentage.
d. Research Findings
Table 1 : Sex and Status
Student Full-time Part-time Business Not Others
Employed Employed Owner Employed
Male 13 - - - - -
Female 15 1 - - - -
Preferred not to answer 1 - - - - -
Total 29 1 - - - -

The table above shows status of all my respondents by sex. Since this survey was conducted in NYIT library
in Manhattan, 29 respondents are students and one respondent is a full-time employee. Among the 30
respondents, there are 13 males, 16 females, and one person preferred not to answer. Since the numbers

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 of males and females of the 30 samples are not much different and all most all of them are students, we
are not going to use sex and status as variables to evaluate the performance of this brand.
Table 2 : Level of familiarity toward Dunkin’ Donuts
Frequency Percentage
Extremely familiar 8 27%
Very familiar 10 33%
Moderately familiar 4 13%
Slightly familiar 3 10%
Not familiar at all 5 17%
Total 30 100%

This table illustrates the familiarity rate of all of the respondents toward Dunkin’ Donuts brands. 33% of
them told us to be very familiar with this brand followed by 27% who are extremely familiar. Some other
respondents are moderately and slightly familiar toward this brand, with 13% and 10% respectively.
However, there are around 23% of the respondents told us that they are not familiar of this brand at all.
Table 3 : Brand Performance of Dunkin’ Donuts
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree
DD is convenient to eat at. 7 14 3 1 -
DD is overall clean. 4 15 5 1 -
DD serves the best coffee. 3 3 11 7 1
DD serves the best Donuts. 4 5 12 4 -
DD offers many great promotions. 4 5 15 1 -
DD has courteous & friendly crews. 3 10 12 - -
DD offers high quality foods. 3 7 13 2 -
I prefer DD than Starbucks. 4 1 7 9 4
I prefer DD than McDonald’s. 3 5 11 4 2
I prefer DD than Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. 5 6 6 6 2

Because we asked the respondents to stop at question 12 when they answer to be not familiar at all with
Dunkin’ Donut, there are only 25 respondents continue to tell us more about their perception toward this
brand. This table mentions the judgment rate of the customers toward Dunkin’ Donut brand. Among the
25 respondents, 14 of them agree DD is convenient to eat at, while only one disagree with this statement.
They statements saying “DD is overall clean” and “DD has courteous & friendly crews” are agreed by 15
and 10 respondents respectively. Besides most of respondents tend to be neutral toward the rest of the
statements about Dunkin’ Donuts.

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 Table 4 : Brand Imagery of customers toward Dunkin’ Donuts
Premium Up-to-date Honest Fancy Outdoorsy Reliable
Strongly Agree 2 3 3 4 2 3
Agree 6 10 13 9 12 13
Neutral 10 8 9 10 10 9
Disagree 7 4 - 2 1 -
Strongly Disagree - - - - - -

The table above describes how strong Dunkin’ Donuts build its brand image in the customer’s perspective.
Among the 25 respondents, 10 of them agree that Dunkin’s Donuts is premium, while 7 of them disagree
with this. Up-to-date, honest, outdoorsy and reliable imagery of this brand are agreed by 10, 13, 12 and
13 respondents respectively. However, 10 respondents are neutral in viewing this brand as fancy.
Table 5 : Level of satisfaction of customers toward Dunkin’ Donuts
Frequency Percentage
Very satisfied 5 20%
Somewhat satisfied 11 44%
Neutral 7 28%
Somewhat dissatisfied 2 8%
Very dissatisfied 0 -
Total 25 100%

This table tells us that among the 25 respondents, who used to buy Dunkin’ Donut products, 20% are very
satisfied with this brand. While 44% of them said they are somewhat satisfied with this brand, 28% are
neutral in their satisfaction. Only 2% are somewhat feeling dissatisfied.
Table 6: Brand Feeling of customers toward Dunkin’ Donuts
Frequency Percentage
Fun 7 22%
Excited 3 9%
Social Approval 6 19%
Warm 9 28%
Cool 3 9%
Fashionable 1 3%
Others 3 9%

Table 6 shows about the psychological feeling of customers have toward Dunkin’ Donuts brand. 28% of
the customers told us that Dunkin’ Donuts gives them warm feeling, while 22% said it is fun. Besides, 19%
mentioned about feeling of social approval that this brand brings to them. However, only 3% feel this
brand is fashionable.

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 Table 7 : Connection between Dunkin’ Donuts and consumers
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree
I am DD’s loyal customer. 4 1 13 6 1
DD is my most favorite baked goods brand. 4 1 8 10 2
DD is my most favorite coffee brand. 3 2 7 11 2
DD is my best friend. 4 2 7 11 1
I love accepting all DD promotions. 5 4 12 4 -
I would look for DD branch stores when I
2 7 12 4 -
go outside America.

This last table illustrates the connection the customers have with Dunkin’ Donuts. 13 Respondents tend
to be neutral to the statements saying I am DD’s loyal customer. While 10 of them disagree that DD is
their most favorite baked goods brand, 12 of them would neutrally look for DD branch stores when they
go outside America. 11 respondents disagree that DD is their most favorite coffee brand and their best
friends. However, 12 of them feel neutral to accepting all DD promotions.

Implications & Analysis on Brand Equity

According to the findings we get from the mini-research survey above, we are getting to know more about
this brand of Dunkin’ Donuts. By using the Brand Equity Model of Keller (2008), we can make our analysis
of this brand as the following.

a. Identity

In order for a particular brand to stand out in the market, the first step they need to do is to clearly identify
themselves as who they are, so that the customers can easily recognize them. Therefore, the main goal is
to establish brand salience or brand awareness to the customers. In this sense, Dunkin’ Donuts are doing
the same way. Accordance to the finding in table 2 above, we can assume that Dunkin’ Donuts is having
done a good job in raising awareness of this brand toward students in NYIT. The majority of the sample
students are extremely and very familiar with this brand. This awareness that they are having is coming
from word-of-mouth, internet and social media. The majority of them said they know Dunkin’ Donut from
their friends and family.

a. Meaning

The meaning of the brand in which a company can communicate to their customers are very important
to make the brand memorable. There are two ways in which brand meaning can be built. First of all, brand
performance to satisfy with the consumer’s needs is to be in place. Second, building brand imagery for
the consumers toward your brand is the key to win over their psychological perception. Table 3 and table
4 are showing the level of brand performance and brand imagery that the customers have toward Dunkin’
Donuts respectively. The results tell us that consumers tend to be neutral to Dunkin’ Donuts’ service,
quality and taste; therefore, we can infer that the brand performance of Dunkin’ Donuts is in the middle.

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Similarly, by looking at the brand imagery people have toward this brand, we can see that most of them
agree and feel neutral toward to images that Dunkin’ Donuts is trying to build.

b. Responses

In Response, there are two elements – Brand Judgment and Brand Feeling. How people judge your brand
and how they feel toward your brand are very important to build the brand equity. Table 5 and table 6
are portraying the messages of these two elements about Dunkin’ Donuts. Most of the respondents are
rating their satisfaction toward Dunkin’ Donuts at a quite high level, meaning that they are giving good
credits to this brand. Simultaneously, most of them receive feeling from what Dunkin’ Donut is trying to
bring; they feel fun, warm and social approval toward the brand, which is a positive sign of brand feeling.

c. Relationships

Building connection with customers is a strong bind to make them become your loyal customers. Dunkin’
Donuts has many promotional programs in achieving this goal. However, based on the result from the
research in the last table, we have seen that Dunkin’ Donut is not doing a good job yet. The connection
between customers and this brand is quite far that most of them disagree that Dunkin’ Donuts is their
most favorite products. They don’t feel attached to this brand that the brand is their best friends.
However, a good signal also shows in the table that most people would look for this brand if they
happened to go outside America. Therefore, we can assume that the geographic segmentation strategies
this brand is doing a moving in a positive trend.

Conclusions

Based on the history of progress of the performance of this, an interview with one of its employee and
the results from the mini-research, we have seen that this company though is still behind Starbucks, it has
been progressively growing since it is founded. As of today, this popularity of this brand has been wide
spread among coffee and donut lovers. The strategies this company adopting is showing a positive trend
toward improving this brand. However, according to the interview with Mr. Zinal Parmar, the consumers
who usually coming to his stores are middle aged and working people. Therefore, by matching this results
with what this brand is trying to portray, we can see that this brand failed to bring some of the Fun and
Exciting image to young consumers. However, since the interview is conducted with only one employee
at one specific location, we can overgeneralize this result.

However, if it happened that this company did fail to attract young adults or teenagers in reality, we would
recommend this company to create more variety of its products with new recipes different from that of
the competitors. By putting itself in uniqueness compared to competitors, this brand will gain more
advantage in building even stronger brand equity. Besides, we think that company is having a pricing
advantage strategy already over the competitors and yet the taste and the quality of its products are
acceptable.

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References

Dunik’ Brands (n.d.). About. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from, http://news.dunkinbrands.com/About

/About-Us-6e.aspx

Dunik’ Brands (n.d.). Responsibility. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from, http://news.dunkinbrands.com/

content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=26

Dunik’ Brands (n.d.). Investor Relations. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from, http://investor.dunkinbrands.
com/

Dunik’ Donuts (n.d.). America runs on Dunkin’. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from, http://www.americas
greatestbrands.com/volume6/pdf/DunkinDonuts.pdf

Dunik’ Donuts (2014). Dunkin’ Donuts Press Kit. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from, http://news.dunkin
donuts.com/imagelibrary/downloadmedia.ashx?MediaDetailsID=325

Emily Contois (2013). The Dunkin’ Donuts Origin Story: A Meaningful Beginning. Retrieved December 10,
2014, from, http://emilycontois.com/2013/01/14/the-dunkin-donuts-origin-story-a-meaningful-
beginning/

Keller, K. (2008). Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity (3rd ed.).
Prentice Hall.

Peter Hoy (2006). Dunkin’s Donuts — Reinventing America’s cup of coffee. Retrieved December 2, 2014,
from, http://www.fastcompany.com/75485/dunkin-donuts-reinventing-americas-cup-coffee

Saleforce (n.d.). Dunkin’ Brands. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from, http://www.salesforce.com/

customers/stories/dunkin.jsp

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 Appendix
Questionnaire
Dear Participants,
We are graduate students pursuing Mater of Business Administration at New York Institute of Technology.
We are conducting a mini-research project on one baked-goods and coffee chain brand in New York. The
purpose of this study is to measure the performance of this brand in the market. The result of this study
will help this company identify the strengths and weaknesses of their brands in order to suggest other
ways to help building a stronger brand equity.
Therefore, your participation in answering the questionnaire is very important to our research. Also, we
can assure you that your information provided will be confidential. We really appreciate your time and
effort.
 Please tick () in the boxes and write your answer in the space provided.

Section I – Personal Profile

1) Gender:
 Male  Female
 Prefer not to answer
2) In which category below is your age?
 Under 18  18-24
 25-34  35-44
 45-54  55-64
 65 and over  Prefer not to answer
3) Which category below describes your status?
 Student  Full-time Employed
 Part-time Employed  Not Employed
 Business Owner
 Others (Please specify :……………………………………………………………………………….…………….)
4) What is your monthly approximate personal income/pocket money?
 0-$500  $501-$1,000
 $1,001-$2,000  $2,001-$5,000
 More than $5,001

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Section 2 – Brand Awareness & Usage

5) Which of the following baked goods and coffee chain brands are you aware of?
(You can select more than one)
 Dunkin’ Donuts  Starbucks
 McDonald’s  The Coffee Bean & Tea leaf
 Others (Please specify :………………………………………………………………………………………….…..)
6) To which one of the following baked goods and coffee restaurants you usually go?
 Dunkin’ Donuts  Starbucks
 McDonald’s  The Coffee Bean & Tea leaf
 Others (Please specify :………………………………………………………………………………………….…..
7) What is your most favorite baked goods and coffee restaurants?
(You can choose more than one)
 Dunkin’ Donuts  Starbucks
 McDonald’s  The Coffee Bean & Tea leaf
 Others (Please specify :………………………………………………………………………………….…………..)
8) Have you ever heard of Dunkin’ Donuts?
 Yes  No (Please go to question 11)
9) Have you ever eaten at Dunkin’ Donuts?
 Yes  No (Please go to question 11)
10) How do you know Dunkin’ Donuts? (You can choose more than one)
 Word-of mouth  Newspaper
 Television Ad  Radio
 Internet & Social Media  Magazine
 Brochure  Friends and Family
 Others (Please specify :……………………………………………………………….……………………………..)
11) When you hear about Dunkin’ Donuts, what are the associations coming to your mind?
(You can choose more than one)
 Coffee  Donuts
 Tea  Convenience
 Pink and Orange Color  Sweet and Creamy
 Very Fun  Tasty
 Others (Please specify: …………………………………………………………………………………..............)

14
 12) How familiar are you with Dunkin’ Donuts brand?
 Extremely Familiar  Very Familiar
 Moderately Familiar  Slightly Familiar
 Not Familiar at all (you can stop here. Thank so much for your time)
13) How often do you go to Dunkin’ Donuts?
 Everyday  4 to 6 times per week
 2 to 3 times per week  Once a week
 2 to 3 times per month  Once a month
 Less than once a month
Section 3 – Brand Performance

14) How do you rate the following statements about Dunkin’ Donuts?
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
DD is convenient to eat at.     
DD is overall clean.     
DD serves the best coffee.     
DD serves the best Donuts.     
DD offers many great promotions.     
DD has courteous & friendly crews.     
DD offers high quality foods.     
I prefer DD than Starbucks.     
I prefer DD than McDonald’s.     
I prefer DD than Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf     

Section 4 – Brand Imagery

15) How you agree with each of the following words describing Dunkin’ Donuts?
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
Premium     
Up-to-date     
Honest     
Fancy     
Outdoorsy     
Reliable     

15
Section 5 – Brand Judgments

16) To what extent, do you stratify with Dunkin’ Donuts?

 Very Satisfied  Somewhat satisfied
 Neutral  Somewhat dissatisfied
 Very Dissatisfied
17) How likely would you recommend Dunkin’ Donuts to others?
 Highly Likely  Somewhat Likely
 Neutral  Somewhat Unlikely
 Highly Unlikely
Section 6 – Brand Feeling

18) What feeling can Dunkin’ Donuts bring to you?

 Fun  Warm
 Excited  Cool
 Social Approval  Fashionable
 Others (Please Specify: ………………………………….………………………………………………………….……………)

Section 6 – Brand Resonance

19) How do you rate the following statements about Dunkin’ Donuts?
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
I am DD’s loyal customer.     
DD is my most favorite baked goods     
brand.
DD is my most favorite coffee brand.     
DD is my best friend.     
I love accepting all DD promotions.     
I would look for DD branch stores     
when I go outside America.

This is the end of the Questionnaire.

Thanks so much for your time!

16
Interview Questions and Answers
Employee Name: Zinal Parmar
1. Which kind of customers you attain to serve regularly? Young? Middle age or old? Working or
student?
 Middle aged and working people mostly

2. What are the positive attributes you think that you can tell to any consumer about your brand?
 DD coffee is so strong so it help to make your whole day running smooth without feeling sleepy
and DD veggie sandwich keep you healthy.

3. How is the working environment?

 Environment is positive and convenient for working.

4. Are you satisfied working in Dunkin’ Donuts?

 Yes so much satisfied with the environment

5. What requests do customers make that you currently don't fulfill?

 To make bagel’s size big

6. What complaints do customers register?

 About speedy service customers do complaints.

7. What hints of customer dissatisfaction do your customers give?

 If customer is dissatisfied than they don’t like to give smile and not like to initiate or continue
conversation.

8. Which products are on back order? Which frequently get returned?

 Bagels which are hard and frequently get returned.

9. What displays, web pages, or promotional offers get the most attention from your customer?
 Banners on windows, Banners on parking lot, and advertising by all employee

17
 Brand Analysis Project
New York Institute of Technology
MRKT610: Branding

G ROU P M E MB ERS:
1. M O N I TA N H EM
2. X I AOR A N X U
3. H A N L I NG T I A N
4. R I N I H E MI LTON PA R MAR
Company Profile
 Founded in Canton, Massachusetts
 More than 18,000 stores in 60 countries
 7,300 Baskin-Robbins restaurants
 11,000 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants
 In 2013, approximately 9.3 billion dollars for franchisee-reported sales
Company Brand: Dunkin’ Donut
 Founded by William Rosenberg
Market—Fierce Competition with Starbucks and McDonald’s
 Defining as a good provider serving fast, fresh and affordable food and
beverages for people, especially those living busy lives.
 ”America Runs on Dunkin’”
 12 million fans on Facebook
 ”America Runs on Dunkin’” on Twitter
 Dunkin’ Lifestyle—Ads everywhere

Strategic Plan
 More healthy products
 Be responsible for society, customers, employees
Market Strategy
 Expertise in baked goods – mainly donut.
 Exploring coffee market by producing more flavored coffee line
 Acting responsibly to the society, customers, and employees
 Providing quality foods and beverages with affordable price
 Promoting a sense of sharing in the society through donation campaigns
Company Statements
 Mission Statement
 “Make and serve the freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and
courteously in modern, well-merchandised stores.”
 Goals & Objectives
 “The goals and objectives of Dunkin’ Donuts are to be a leader of ‘quick and
quality’ in the industry. They aim to give clients a fine and fun dining
experiences and offer high-quality service and food.”
STP Analysis: Market Segmentation
 Geographic Segmentation
 categorizing markets into different geographical units
 States
 Nations
 Countries
 Regions
 Cities
 Localization to fulfill customer’s needs
 Products
 Advertisements
 Promotions
 Sale efforts

 Behavioral Segmentation
 Basing on the differences in consumer's lifestyles
STP Analysis: Target
 Targeted customers of all ages
 Working people is the main target
 “ Pay as you go ”
STP Analysis: Position
 Positioning through Quality
 High quality with freshly grounded and brewed coffee
 Fresh baked donuts and other food items
 Positioning through Price
 Affordable price is the key
Marketing Mix (4P)
Product
 50 different flavors donuts
 different types of hot and cold
beverages
 Sandwiches for breakfast
 Bagel and Muffin
Promotion
 Social Media is the tool
 Home Delivery service
 Dunkin’ Donuts Green
 Dunkin’ Donuts Perk
Price
 Competitive: cheaper than
competitors like Starbucks
 Comparable with McDonald’s
Place
 6395 Dunkin Donuts stores in 34
states in US
 Sited around airports, train stations,
shopping malls, etc.
Brand Identification
 Bright Color: Pink and Orange
 Design: Texture showing personality and variety
 Name: Memorable; expertise in Donuts
 Symbol: Cup of hot coffee, expertise not only Donuts but also coffee
 Slogan:
 “What are you drinking?”
 “America runs on Dunkin.”
Brand Awareness and Element
 Brand Awareness
 The most favorable brand for coffee and donuts
Brand Element
 Memorability
 Combination of pink and orange color
 Meaningfulness
 “Dunkin’ Donuts” implies “Hardworking”
 Likability
 Again, color, logo have shown to be a positive lovely image to the consumer
POP and POD
 Point of Parity
 Providing taste of coffee which is comparable to that of the competitors: Starbucks &
McDonald’s

Point of Difference
 Quality: Original and great quality of coffee and food beverages as the brand’s motive is to
serve best food to consumers.
 Variety: Offer varied and exotic coffee drink.
 Customization: Provide more than 100 numbers of coffee drinks.
 Experience: Quick, on-going, coffee enthusiastic people like Dunkin donuts who get the kick
start of their day.
 Image: Provide quick, on-going and friendly services.
 Freshness : Bring fresh, original and traditional coffee varieties
Sustainable Competitive Advantage
 Strong Coffee
 Freshness in baked goods such as Donuts
 Freshness in food items such as sandwich for breakfast
 Receiving good feedback from consumers on Quality
 CBBE Model Analysis
Resonance
Relationships Slight attachment
with customers

Judgment Feeling
Receiving good Fun
Responses response Warm
of satisfaction Social Approval

Performance Imagery
Consumers are neutral Consumers are neutral
Meaning to
toward the service, in viewing this
quality and taste. Brand.

Identity Salience
Brand Awareness is extremely & very high among people
Recommendation
 Improve taste
 Improve creativity in variety in menus
 Build brand resonance with consumers via loyalty programs
 Extend target customers to young adults and teenagers
Thank you!