It’s hard to compare on even ground two competitive brands. In looking at Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, both are American-founded coffee companies. Dunkin Donuts was founded in 1950, giving it jumpstart in comparison to Starbucks, which opened in 1971.
Dunkin Donuts has gotten a reputation of being an east-coast favorite, affordable coffee option, and quick breakfast go-to. The menu ranges from donuts, eclairs, bagels, breakfast sandwiches, drip coffees, lattes, and other speciality coffees. It has expanded from just donuts and coffee, to a more expansive menu for not just treats but as on-the-go breakfast meals. Most Dunkin Donuts’ offer a drive-thru, honing in that idea of on-the-go. This aligns with the brand slogan, “America Runs on Dunkin.” It’s efficient, quick, adorable, and tasty.
Starbucks, on the other hand, has only recently extended their stores to having drive-thus. Drive-thrus weren’t as common with the company in their origins, but have become more widely added to franchise within the last decade or so. The delay was to uphold brand reputation of a more upscale, elevated, and deluxe. Starbucks has a brand image of being a more trendy and posh coffee choice. This is scene in their logo, typography, aesthetics, store layouts (couches, coffee tables, hardwood floor, bookshelves, etc.) Their menu is also more plush in comparison to other coffee chains; blonde lattes, speciality drinks, cold brews, nitro brews, croissants, banana bread, oatmeal, tomato + mozzarella paninis, etc.
So in having two ads to compare, I chose to level the playing ground a bit and look at holiday-timed ads for the two brands.
In looking at the Starbucks holiday ad, the layout and copy are simple: featuring very recognizable Starbucks red holiday cups. With the Starbucks logo on it.The three cups are lined up one behind the other, the foam from the coffee drinks is decorated lightly in cinnamon or some spice that, together, the three cups make up a snowman. It is effective, creative, and simple. The latte art isn’t tacky or outwardly seen. It is subtly designed but still noticeable. It adds a nice touch to the simplicity of the rest of the print which is on a clean red background with small white copy that reads “The holiday drinks are here” It’s simple, understated, but very effective and original. It’s displays their seasonal specialty drinks, the quality of them, and focuses on the idea that these are seasonal - so get them while you can. It’s not explicit, but it does hone in on that idea of deluxe and exclusive.
The Dunkin Donuts ad features a Dunkin latte cup with a speciality drink. The cup says “Latte Sugar Cookie” and features red and green sprinkles to add festive decoration on top of the latte foam. The copy is read more boldly and in a bigger font compared to Starbucks. The copy reads “Enjoy the magic of the holidays” in the Dunkin-styled font. The message in this ad circles more around the charm of the holiday season and festive joy. Unlike Starbucks, the type of seasonal drink is told to the viewer. Starbucks ad had no information about what their seasonal drinks actually are. This could be because their seasonal drinks are popular and stay the same nearly ever year (Peppermint mocha, chestnut praline, etc.) Whereas Dunkin will release different flavors every few years (sugar cookie, snickerdoodle, Peppermint mocha, etc.)
The Dunkin Donuts logo appears at the bottom of the print in Green/Red colors, as opposed to their traditional red/orange Dunkin Donuts colors. It is clear that Dunkin Donuts made their ad more festive and seasonal. Whereas Starbucks remained rather on-brand with their colors and design. They remained rather on-brand with exclusivity, where Dunkin was a little more seasonal.
Works Cited:
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://arvani-designs.com/portfolios/dunkin-donuts-holiday-ads/
Starbucks Christmas 2013 | simplistic promotional posters | Pinterest | Christmas ad, Starbucks christmas and Christmas poster. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/528891549963133460/
Although I'm more of a Dunkin' girl, I have to say I prefer Starbucks advertisements in general. I actually prefer the Starbucks experience overall compared to Dunkin', but Dunkin' has better food and drinks. Anyway, I really like this Starbucks advertisement because of how creative it is and I do think if someone where to walk passed both of these ads they would be more eager to get a Starbucks drink as apposed to Dunkin'. With that being said, the Dunkin' advertisement is so them. Like, it's very simple, there isn't much flair, just a quickly put together advertisement and I think that's what the appeal to their advertisement is supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteYou have a really good point about Dunkin' not trying to be exclusive. I think Starbucks targets the more artsy, fancy coffee drinkers while Dunkin' is a lot more accessible. To me, Dunkin' seems to be trying to appeal to everyone including the people going through the drive-thru, while Starbucks tries to appeal to more "serious" people who would rather come into their stores and sit down.
ReplyDeleteYou make excellent points about the target audience of Starbucks' ads. They are often geared toward the artsy groups and those who have a higher income, mirroring the customers who can afford to go to their store on the daily. Dunkin is more of the everyman's coffee that is affordable and easy for the on-the-go lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI think you're completely right about the direction Dunkin took their ad in. I actually appreciate that the Dunkin ad is simple and fun and straight to the point, because I feel that's the qualities that Dunkin customers appreciate. An out-of-the-box ad that tries to use too many appeals would only turn off the Dunkin customers that are only interested in getting a quick coffee and going on their way.
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