Denver Runs on Dunkin Donuts

Dunkin Donuts

In my yellow H&M wallet wedged between a half-used Starbucks gift card and a stack of Monigle business cards lives a Dunkin Donuts gift card with $4.16 on it. It’s been there since my 28^th birthday, 15 months mocking me with its $4 worth of uselessness. Emblazoned beyond the DD logo is a cheerful donut with white icing and rainbow sprinkles. I love rainbow sprinkles and would love to simply walk into my nearest Dunkin Donuts and eat that very confection – which would, of course be totally possible – if Denver had a Dunkin Donuts.

My boyfriend was the giver of this gift card, and before you go on thinking he’s the worst gift giver ever for giving me a gift card to a place I have to fly to, I’ll save him. We were in Pennsylvania road tripping back to Colorado and it was the first gift of the day. Basking in my new-found 28-year-oldness I gladly devoured TWO Boston crème donuts and a gigantic vat of iced coffee. My blood sugar spiked so hard that it simply wasn’t necessary to make another Dunkin Donuts stop the entire trip.

I, like so many Denverites, have had a nearly obsessive hope that one day a Dunkin Donuts would pop up and provide the constant drip of hazelnut iced coffee I so desire. That day is actually coming as Denver is getting its first Dunkin Donuts in about 15 years this September. It’s actually all anyone can talk about and I have to stop and wonder why.

We have their coffee in our grocery stores. We’re always in the top 25 healthiest states. We, as a whole, prefer local, natural and nutritious. Dunkin Donuts does not exactly line up with a stereotypical Coloradoan.  So what gives?

When I think about Dunkin Donuts, I think fun and convenience. I think about those rainbow sprinkles and their pink and orange logo. I think about flavored iced coffee and sweet treats on the go. The story Dunkin Donuts is telling is one of easily accessible moments of joy. To be sure, I had to check to see if the story I was getting was the one they intended. I looked immediately to their social media presence. Sure enough, it’s peppered with gift card giveaways, fun play-on-words and games. They even refer to their headquarters as the “mothership.” Their website clearly echoes the theme of fun and convenience, even advertising an app to “pay as you go.”  Their quest for these two qualities is so great, so perfectly executed in every brand touchpoint, that I have to get a little mad for all of my fellow Denverites. We have been deprived so much fun and convenience for so long! Now I get why we’re all thrilled. Dunkin Donuts so flawlessly delivers their brand experience that even cities that don’t have them know what they’re missing.

As of June 19^th Dunkin Donuts shared that 30 locations will open up in the Denver Metro area by 2018. Before we know it, Denver will run on Dunkin.

Connect With Us