For some time now, Dunkin’ Donuts has been expertly refashioning itself as the everyman’s alternative to Starbucks - accessible, affordable and high in quality, but without the fuss of the more highfalutin chain.
Like all good competitors, Dunkin’ Donuts is showing no signs of letting up now that Starbucks is slightly down (although surely far from out). As the coffee giant works to retool its image, the donut titan has launched a new take on an old joke - just how hard is it to order a drink at Starbucks and its Italian-inspired ilk?
The coffee-drink order shtick is, in fact, so reliable that even Dunkin’ Donuts has done it before. But some jokes never get old, and this is one of them.
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| Dunkin' Donuts |
It begins with a woman standing in a dark-paneled espresso shop, thinking out loud, "Can I get a large …"
"Oh, a deici?" the barista interjects.
A confusing back-and-forth ensues, until the flummoxed customer finally asks, "What’s a deici?"
"It’s a large," the barista admits.
The campaign is part of Dunkin’s push to "simplify your latte" by choosing a plain latte that, of course, comes in your standard small, medium and large.
It’s a cute campaign with a snappy tag line, and it benefits from pitch-perfect casting.
Still, the naysayer has to wonder: is simplicity really what Americans are thirsting for? Instead of offering more choices, Dunkin’ Donuts is making a selling point of limiting consumer choice, arguing that there is freedom in not having to decide between Starbucks’ "grande" or "venti," let alone its other many espresso options. That would seem to fly in the face of everything the American consumer loves.
It’s also a bit disingenuous. A look at Dunkin’s menu offerings reveal that the donut maker also is not immune to the allure of selling complicated coffee drinks flavored with pumpkin spice, gingerbread and the like. In fact, Dunkin’ Donuts even has its own hard-to-pronounce coffee offering in the Coolatta.
The Dunkin’ Donuts commercial is funny, but the fact remains: you can’t have your extra-hot, half-caf mocha almond latte and drink it, too.
Click here to watch the commercial online.
Update: An astute reader noticed that we misspelled highfalutin - apparently, we aren't so highfalutin.
