Dunkin’s advertising was on a marketing treadmill, messaging around constant menu updates. To no end—traffic was declining. And that traffic was going to Starbucks and McDonalds.

Dunkin’ did own traffic and attention in their historic home in the Northeast. 47% of adults in Boston order Dunkin’ at least once a month, and brand love is sky high.

But regional success hadn’t translated to national success. They were too reliant on their core loyalists: 43% of Dunkin’s total sales came from the Northeast, a region representing only 10% of the US population.

The challenge was extending that dominance to the rest of the country. Dunkin’ needed to raise their profile and drive awareness, positive sentiment, and, ultimately, sales.

Dunkin’ had to launch themselves over the heads of their competitors in the public conversation. And that meant creating an undeniable cultural moment that would put Dunkin’ on everyone’s radar.

We made Ben Affleck, 50-something year old Bostonian and huge fan of Dunkin’, the Official Face of the Brand.

Over three chapters, the momentum around our “Dunkin’ Cinematic Universe” grew, as did people’s attachment to its main character: Ben, but More.

This Ben has more of a Boston accent, more pride in his love of Dunkin’, more desperation to seem relevant in front of young pop stars. In our final spot, Ben reveals his ultimate dedication to both 90s nostalgia and his love of Dunkin: the retro-inspired “man-boy band”, The DunKings. He even attempted some boy band choreography.

The self-referential, humorous core of the story helped drive billions in earned media.

We needed to give something back to these fans. So we made that humor, enthusiasm, and Dunkin’ love a symbol folks could buy for themselves: The DunKings tracksuit. After all, what’s more 90s boy band than matching track pants?

The tracksuits embodied all the core insights of the campaign.

The design was inspired first by the tracksuits that Ben Affleck and fellow DunKing Matt Damon wore in their star-making breakout movie, Good Will Hunting. (Which famously takes place in Boston). And, of course, by the boy band looks of the same era: think *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees.

The suits were intentionally colorful and zany, meant to be humorous. Still, every choice was intentional, from the custom patches to the donut zipper, to the Red Sox (MLB) logo on the sleeves. Every detail tracked back to Dunkin’, and to Boston.

When it came time to sell them, we wondered if we should simplify them, make them more “wearable.” But we sold them as they were originally designed, unapologetically over the top. And they sold out. Twice.

We trusted our fans, and they made our tracksuits famous.

The impact of the tracksuits was beyond all imagination—and not just because they sold out twice. They were on TV (The Late Show), at policial functions (the Gov. of Massachusetts repped them to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade), and on the stage (members of *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys performed in them!). They were spotted at sporting events on the jumbotron, and people showed them off on TikTok.

In fact, the response was so massive that the global miniatures brand Funko Pop reached out to us for a partnership, incorporating the tracksuits into their “Pop Yourself” collection.

In total, “The DunKings” earned 40.4B impressions, had 96% positive sentiment, and wrapped an incredible year in the Dunkin’ Cinematic Universe.

All in, the DCU generated:

69.1 Billion Earned Impressions

+14pts brand awareness pre- to post campaign

+11pts consideration pre- to post campaign

+10.7% in sales pre- to post campaign