Martin Trujillo Villa

Dunkin’ Donuts Flavor Radio

The capital of South Korea, Seoul, is known as the city of coffee, even though
Asian countries are known for not having such a taste for coffee. Seoul is a very
big city, the Seoul Capital Area, which includes the megacity of Seoul, Incheon
metropolis and Gyeonggi province, has a population of more than 25 million
people. Acknowledging this we can imagine the vast competition between
trademarks and companies in this city.
There are over 200 Starbucks and even more local cafes where people can stop
by to have a coffee, and Dunkin’ Donuts is more related, by people, as a donut
shop, than it is as a coffee shop. People have a lot of options when it comes to
where to have a coffee, so Dunkin Donuts thought of a great strategy to change
what people thinks about it being a donut shop, and starting to be known as a
place where you can also have a coffee.
As every big city, Seoul is known by its traffic and the large amounts of time people
take moving from one place to another, so they decided to do this sense-focused
marketing campaign in public transportation buses related to coffee. Dunkin’
Donuts developed a machine which sprayed coffee aroma when its jingle played in
the radio, so people would relate Dunkin’ Donuts with coffee. It wasn’t only a very
innovative campaign, but also a very successful one, in every bus stop there was a
poster of Dunkin’ Donuts and a store nearby. Stores near to the bus stops
increased their coffee sales by 26%.
Having this case as an example, we can relate it to our class and see that it is
possible to change cultural habits and perceptions of people about things in
different ways. In this case, Dunkin’ Donuts did it by making an experience in the
senses of the customers; while they heard the jingle they could also smell the
scent of coffee, directly relating coffee to Dunkin’ Donuts, then there is a sight
experience when people look at the Dunkin’ Donuts banner in the bus stop with a
coffee in it, and by locating their stores just by the bus stops, the first thing people
do when they get out of the bus is go to the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts and buy a
coffee there.