Randolph, Mass. (August 26, 2004) - Timed with the kick-off of the new football season, Dunkin' Donuts celebrates the two-time Superbowl World Champion New England Patriots with its new ad airing for the first time Sunday, August 29. The ad features New England Patriots Tedy Bruschi, Ty Warren and Mike Vrabel promoting the company's new Bacon, Ham and Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich. The sandwich will be offered in the Northeast for a limited time only.
"Dunkin' Donuts and the New England Patriots are both well-loved by New Englanders," said John Gilbert, Dunkin' Donuts vice president of marketing. "So, it's only fitting that we team up to introduce a new version of our breakfast sandwich, the best selling breakfast sandwich in New England."
The breakfast sandwich ads created by Boston-based Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos include one football-themed 30-second TV spot featuring the Patriots, as well as one 15-second product spot. Radio and outdoor executions round out the advertising which will run in the Northeast region through October 10.
The new ad with the Patriots was created in the same humorous spirit of the recent Dunkin'Donuts Maple Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich ad featuring Curt Schilling as he tried to master the infamous Boston accent. Dunkin' Donuts has a history of effective advertising with athletes, including Tom Brady and other sports stars.
"We don't rely on star power alone in our advertising with sports celebrities," said Gilbert. "We're especially careful to create natural and relevant connections between the athletes and our products. Our ad's storylines are humorous and timely, but they also make a believable link between the celebrity and our products, a link that resonates immediately with our customers."
The new 30-second spot, "Glare," opens with a man sitting at a table at Dunkin' Donuts, enjoying a new Bacon, Ham and Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich. A closer look reveals that he is wearing eye black. The spot cuts to a woman also eating the new sandwich, and also wearing eye black, along with everyone in the store. We then see two Dunkin' Donuts employees behind the counter talking about how the eye black helps "cut down on the glare." The camera then pans over to a table where we see New England Patriots players Tedy Bruschi, Ty Warren and Mike Vrabel seated and eating the new Dunkin' Donuts breakfast sandwich. Their multiple Super Bowl rings are catching the light from the sun and creating a glare in the rest of the store. The voiceover reads "Introducing the new Bacon, Ham and Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich from Dunkin' Donuts. Served with double meat, egg and cheese on a freshly-baked bagel, it's already an instant fan favorite"
"This new ad promotes a point of pride for New Englanders while it promotes a competitive advantage for Dunkin' Donuts," said Gilbert. "Counter-intuitively, Dunkin' Donuts is primarily a coffee company. Unlike our coffee competitors, we also sell delicious fresh baked goods, like breakfast sandwiches on fresh bagels. Our business model is to sell a cup of coffee plus a baked good to every customer. It is this focus on beverages and baked goods, together, that has helped us thrive when our competitors are suffering in this low-carb era."
About Dunkin' Donuts-- Founded in 1950, Dunkin' Donuts is the number one retailer of coffee-by-the-cup in America, selling 2.7 million cups a day, nearly one billion cups a year. Dunkin' Donuts is also the largest coffee and baked goods chain in the world and sells more donuts, coffee, bagels and muffins than any other quick service restaurant in America. Dunkin' Donuts has more than 6,000 stores in the United States and 29 other countries. Based in Randolph, MA, Dunkin' Donuts is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Allied Domecq PLC (NYSE:AED). For more information, visit www.dunkindonuts.com.
About Hill, Holliday -- Hill, Holliday, owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (NYSE:IPG) and headquartered in Boston with offices in New York, San Francisco, Miami and Greenville, S.C., is one of the top communications agencies in the nation. Hill, Holliday has won every major award for advertising excellence and effectiveness and has among its roster of clients leading national and regional brands. Hill, Holliday can be found on the Web at www.hhcc.com.
