Create Dunkin's Next Donut

Creative Direction + Copywriting + Promotion

Bring back the excitement around donuts.
Opportunity: With growing health consciousness, enthusiasm for donuts was declining. Dunkin' Donuts needed to recapture excitement for their iconic product and reconnect with their audience in a fun and engaging way.
Insight: Despite changing eating habits, people still have a deep emotional connection to donuts, associating them with moments of joy and indulgence. By putting creativity into their hands, we could reignite their passion for donuts.
Objective: Develop a crowd-sourced campaign that allowed fans to design their own donut, driving engagement, PR buzz, and opt-ins to Dunkin’s loyalty program, while reigniting excitement around donuts.
How It Worked: The “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut Contest” let fans create their dream donut from a wide variety of ingredients (doughs, fillings, frostings, toppings), resulting in over 950,000 possible combinations. My role was to ensure a seamless and enjoyable user experience, optimizing the design process through usability testing to move users smoothly from creation to submission. I worked closely with the illustrator to make each element visually appealing, creating an interactive experience that drew fans in.

Participation skyrocketed—exceeding expectations by 2200%. The media plan was cut after just three days as traffic overwhelmed the site. Over 129,000 donut entries and 174,000 votes were submitted, with users spending an average of nine minutes on the site. We generated 90 million national media impressions, valued at $10 million in marketing exposure, with no paid media. Finalists even created their own social media campaigns, leveraging early influencer marketing to solicit votes.
Impact: The contest's success led Dunkin' to bring it back the following year, and we added features like a “My Donuts” section for users to save their creations. Engagement grew even more in the second year with significant increases in unique visitors, entries, votes, and loyalty program opt-ins—all without a media spend. The donut creator tool remains a fan favorite year-round, with millions of donut creations even outside the promotional window.
Additionally, the work received the following recognition by the industry:
🏆 2010 MITX Finalist: Social Media Strategies
🏆  2010 MITX Finalist: Consumer Goods
🏆  2010 Hatch Award Winner: Social Media
🏆  2010 Hatch Award Winner: Websites
🏆  2010 Forrester Groundswell Award: Finalist
🏆  2009 MITX Winner: Best Cross Media Award
🏆  2009 Adobe Site of the Day
Create Dunkin's Next Donut Contest Awards:
+ 2010 MITX Finalist: Social Media Strategies 
+ 2010 MITX Finalist: Consumer Goods
+ 2010 Hatch Award Winner: Social Media
+ 2010 Hatch Award Winner: Websites
+ 2010 Forrester Groundswell Award: Finalist
+ 2009 MITX Winner: Best Cross Media Award 
+ 2009 Adobe Site of the Day
Buzz On The Donut Creator:
Skill Sets:
Strategy
Concept Development
Creative Direction
Copywriting
Art Direction
Client Presentation & Management
Working with Cross-Functional Teams
Website Development
Social Media
Video Production
User Experience
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