Dunkin' Donuts "#KEEPON Anthem" (2016) :30 (USA)

Every day is a gift. A new day. To do something. Amazing. Keep on dreaming. Working. Winning. Losing. Playing. Learning. Loving. Keep on. Being You. #KeepOn

*Eye roll*

♫ IT'S A BEAUTIFUL LIFE ♫

Yeah but what does life have to do with donuts?

♫ AND NIGHTS OUT IN THE RAIN I LOVE IT JUST THE SAME ♫

Big type spewing cliche affirmations and random images. Why is there a kid with a bionic arm?

♫ IT'S A BEAUTIFUL LIFE. SO OPEN UP YOUR MIND WHILE WE STILL HAVE SOME TIME ♫

WTF. While we still have some time? We'd have more time if we didn't eat donuts, I'll tell you that much. And then we go from a tech start up working late nights to a woman in the army looking at a laptop with a cup of coffee.

♫ IT'S A BEAUTIFUL LIFE ♫

And after some fitful product shots of drinks and kids making donut eyes, we end on an all female garage band. This is the new Dunkin Donuts. Spewing greeting card philosophy. This ad could be for breakfast cereal. Or McDonald's. Or 7-11. Or a local artisanal donut shop that always has a line around the block. This ad could be for any competitor. But worse this ad could be for an-y-thing. Insurance. Heart medication. A car. You name it. By taking out any feature or benefit to the product Dunkin' Donuts has made itself absolutely irrelevant. And what's worse, by assuming their demographic is literally everyone, it feels like they've don't really know who their audience is.

Dunkin' Donuts has always been a working class brand. Its most iconic and longest running campaign starred Fred The Baker. A working class employee whose catch phrase was "Time to make the donuts," which he always said cheerily in the morning. And then at the end of the evening, he'd stumble in weary and shaken saying "I made the donuts." For the past decade America has been running on Dunkin' Donuts. Who was America in this context? The working-class. Now this shift to "everyone," complete with anthem tries to appeal to everyone and comes out flavorless and focused-grouped to death, right down to the hashtag. #KeepOn? I'm good, thanks.

Client: Dunkin Donuts
Agency: Hill Holliday
Production Company: Greenpoint PicturesExecutive
Producer: Tatiana Rudzinski
Producer: Willa Goldfeder
Director: Evan Dennis

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Dabitch's picture

Why don't you tell us how you really feel?

tracy's picture

Brought to you by the makers of #MotivationalMonday and anything/hashtag involving the word "hustle."

I want to go kick the crap out of someone. Is that the emotional connection they're looking for? Or rage-eating? 'Cause when I'm angry, I tend to head to a bar, not Dunkin Donuts.

Dabitch's picture

I just hate ads that check all the boxes.

Surfer gal ✓
Bespoke motorcycle guy ✓
Ridiculously energetic sign-dancing guy who had WAAAAAY too much caffeine ✓
Wall mural guy ✓
Woman Scientist (presumably) & bionic 3D printed hand guy ✓
Girlfriends having fun at the funfair ✓
Yoga-mom staying fit while toddler plays with her ✓
97-year old party on lady at her birthday ✓
Boxing gal ✓
Ridiculously energetic dancing troop ✓
Surfer gal again ✓
The late-night-at-the-office girl & guys ✓
KIDS! ✓
Glass-blowing guy working ✓
Army mom emotional when Skype-calling family ✓
Eating behind-the-desk girl ✓
Eating at the desk guy ✓
Freaking skyflying in a wingsuit guy ✓
Climbers ✓ (Hey, this is way too 90s, it's 2016 people)
Collage of people selfies ✓
Ridiculously energetic dancers literally bouncing off each other ✓
Hula hoop in the park guy ✓
Girl garage band. ✓