By Joel M. Albrizio, President
"Dunkin' Donuts Serves Up A Masters Degree In Branding"
Can you imagine if any of us were given the task of "Branding" a coffee shop that also sold donuts in the 1950's?
As branding consultants here are some of the questions we might have asked.....
Do you have a "one of a kind" coffee? No, but its a good coffee and it is consistent.
Somewhat concerned we might have next asked.....
Do you have a "one of a kind" donut? No, but we would like you to brand this so we could have locations all over the world.
Stunned by the confidence we would certainly then ask.....
Do you have a "one of a kind" bagel? No, but we would like you to overtake the now famous New York City bagel in New York City proper with the products available through Dunkin' Brands.
Would any "Branding Expert" at that time have ever imagined what was possible?
OK, any of us given this task in 1948 might have found this task overwhelming at best. Dunkin' Donuts has done all of that and more. Dunkin' Donuts has overtaken an industry with incredible "branding" and a decent list of deliverables that excels with consistency.
Successful today with over 11,000 locations in 33 countries Dunkin' Donuts has defined what the potential of a well positioned "Brand" can be.
Where ever you might decide to travel, you will be guaranteed exactly the same quality coffee and bagel you can count on today from the "still open" original location in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Lets just look at one example of this brand dominance.
New York City has always been synonymous with the worlds greatest bagel. Incredible coffee and the worlds greatest bagels almost anywhere one could look, Right?
Well look again. Today it is difficult to find the once famous New York City bagel because "Branding" and it's most efficient student "Dunkin' Donuts" has all but replaced the New York City "Icon" the bagel, one by one, location by location.
Sold today in supermarkets, gas stations, corporate and franchise locations this "branding" superstar may be just beginning. New locations include an invasion of California where the lines of new customers during store openings have often been in the hundreds.
Dunkin' Donuts even surprised Wall Street with its I.P.O...
With a market cap of 3.88 Billion. As a "Brand" we can all learn from this "one of a kind" success story that has continued over "60" years.
So when we think we have a huge task "Branding" any form of food retail today, creating a sustainable retail enterprise, just think of the enormous task standing before William Rosenberg in 1948 when he opened his first donut shop named "Open Kettle"!
That said, let's go back to work today and deal with the somewhat smaller tasks before all of us. We could address those smaller tasks realizing what the potential of effective "branding" efforts could accomplish?
Take Dunkin Donuts "Branding" strategy of consistency of a popular deliverable with easy to access locations and apply that to an easy to remember slogan like"America Runs On Dunkin'.
In any retail space success is likely to follow.
Thank-you for all of your support and ideas.