Dunkin’ re-energizes dated QSR brand with seven strategic principles of brand optimism

Dunkin’, the quick-service restaurant chain, successfully revitalized its brand through focusing on optimism.

Dunkin’ is an iconic brand that has a long, fuzzy history anchored in storytelling.

“We hear all the time about, ‘My father used to bring me after ballet,’” said Tony Weisman, Dunkin’s CMO, “or how, ‘I used to go to Dunkin’ Donuts with my mom after soccer.’

“The dangerous thing about nostalgia,” he continued, “is it can travel at any time and freeze you in a place where no longer you can grow and evolve” – leaving an anachronistic brand locked in the past; a place visited in late 2016 by actor Casey Affleck on an episode of comedy...

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