Dive Brief:
- Dunkin' has teamed up with home fragrance brand Homesick to create a line of limited-edition candles, the company revealed in a press release shared with Marketing Dive.
- Homesick's team worked with Dunkin' to develop the scents based on Dunkin menu items. The scents include Original Blend Coffee, Peppermint Mocha Flavored Coffee and Old Fashioned Donuts.
- The candles are packaged using colors and prints from the Dunkin' brand. The $29.95 candles are available from a landing page on Homesick's e-commerce store. The candle seller's website also features a tab on its homepage promoting the product.
Dive Insight:
Dunkin's partnership with Homesick allows each brand to reach a new audience outside of its own shopper base. The candles could appeal to Dunkin' fans that want to give the scent of Dunkin' to their friends, while it could also appeal to Homesick shoppers looking for unique scented candles. Other scents featured by Homesick include mistletoe, midsummer mojito and scents based on different cities and states, such as the Chicago candle or the Southern California candle.
Dunkin' has been looking to build on its loyal customer base by ramping up its lifestyle positioning this year following the decision to drop the word "Donuts" from its name. Last month, the chain launched the Dunkin' Shop, its own branded online pop-up shop for the holidays. For the store, the brand featured famous Dunkin' fans wearing its products including singer/songwriter Andy Grammer, as well as newlyweds Jared Haibon and Ashley Iaconetti from the TV show "Bachelor Nation."
Other marketers have tapped into the sense of smell by incorporating scents in their campaigns. Branded candles have been a popular expression of this tactic, as KFC created a gravy-flavored scented candle and Chili's created a baby back ribs-scented candle to push popular menu items. Similarly, Coca-Cola last year released its scent into London tube stations to promote a new flavor during the holiday season.
The holiday campaign comes as Dunkin' makes changes to its marketing team. On Dec. 1, Tony Weisman stepped down as U.S. CMO. Weisman joined the company in 2017 and helped to spearhead Dunkin's rebrand.
