Dunkin’ Donuts CMO John Costello says marketers shouldn’t get caught up in mobile’s ‘bright, shiny new objects’
President of global marketing and innovation at Dunkin’ Donuts John Costello has said that the brand’s mobile strategy is largely based upon providing utility for customers rather than what he calls “bright, shiny new objects.”
Speaking at a Simulmedia event entitled ‘The New Dynamic Duo? How TV and Mobile are Coming Together,’ he said that the coffee brand’s app – which has a “world class store locator” and can be downloaded in either English or Spanish – is rooted in the brand’s ten-year-old tagline, ‘America Runs on Dunkin’.’
“It’s more than just a slogan. It was our brand purpose before ‘brand purpose’ was a buzzword,” he said.
Because the idea behind the slogan aims to convey that Americans need the brand’s coffee to get through their busy days, Costello said it’s important that the app is both easy to use and simplifies finding the nearest of the brand's locations to the user.
He told attendees that marketers shouldn’t just use mobile to “push ads out there” and should instead listen to consumers to find out how mobile can be most effective, even if it means ignoring the newest and trendiest technologies.
Although Costello said he believes mobile is the most transformative marketing tool of the last 30 years, he said that he doesn’t expect mass media like TV and radio to go away anytime soon.
He even gave ultra-traditional marketing a plug, touting the effectiveness of putting a picture of a product on a storefront to get more people to come in and buy that item.
Costello joined Dunkin’ Donuts in 2009 after holding senior marketing positions at Sears and Home Depot, about three years after the Boston-based brand began its national expansion push to better compete with Starbucks. According to the company, it has more than 8,000 locations in 41 states.
The chain reported US comparable store sales growth – locations that have been opened for more than one year – of 1.1 per cent last quarter, down from 2 per cent the year prior.
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