You might not be familiar with Consumer Value Stores, Hennes and Mauritz, or Government Employees Insurance Company, but we’re willing to bet you are pretty familiar with CVS, H&M, and GEICO.
Oftentimes, when a company gets to a certain point and needs to make an impact as quickly as possible, they want to make sure their name does that for them. Especially once they’ve already built up enough of a brand awareness than you can reasonably figure out that the original name and the new name are the same company.
It looks like it might finally be that time for Dunkin’ Donuts, who is testing out just calling themselves “Dunkin’” at one store. Presumably, it’s a prelude to renaming the entire brand across the country.
The test run will go down at their store at 275 S. Lake Avenue in Pasadena, California. It’s the first of multiple locations that will attempt to figure out if shortening the name hurts the bottom line or if people will still keep lining up for their donuts and coffee just the same.
It’s not exactly a new branding campaign. The company has been referring to themselves as Dunkin’ in recent ad campaigns, such as the America Runs on Dunkin’ commercials. It’s almost so ubiquitous that they’re mainly referred to as Dunkin’ in SNL’s parody of the ads from last season.
It’s probably a smart move for the company in general, since it’s been a long time since they focused solely on donuts and coffee. The company also has a full menu of assorted food items, fancy drinks, and often shares space with Baskin Robbins ice cream shops. The move is reminiscent of Boston Market, which changed its name from Boston Chicken in an attempt to let customers know they offer more than just one thing.
Also, the unintended bonus of dropping “Donuts” from the name will be a cut down on “nuts” jokes by bros and uncles on a continual basis. So even if you have some kind of emotional attachment to the full name, maybe consider that as a good reason for everyone to move on.
Strangely, that Al Pacino commercial now actually fits ever better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S6eUFbOfIU
[NRN]
