02/13/2008 06:38:01 AM 
(4) 
(4) In a saturated and complex world, being focused is always better. It’s just easier to communicate one idea, rather than several.
The problem with focus is it limits business. The finance folks and the people responsible for growth don't want focus; in fact, they despise it because it means narrowing opportunity. They will come back to you saying they don't just want to target women, they believe their target is everyone who owns a television. You see it all the time with cable networks that start off with a very focused mission, like weather and end up three years later showing horror movies and rare European documentaries.
This now appears to be the case with Dunkin Donuts.
At a time when their major competitor Starbucks appears to be down on their luck, Dunkin is doing the unthinkable, instead of focusing, it's turning itself into a casual restaurant.
According to AP.
"Dunkin' Donuts, the coffee and baked goods chain synonymous with breakfast, is targeting the afternoon and evening crowds with new flatbread sandwiches and personal pizzas heated in convection ovens rather than microwaves.
The chain hopes the moves, to be announced Wednesday, will improve food quality and bolster an expansion plan that's introducing Dunkin's pink and orange-themed restaurants far beyond the brand's Northeastern base.
Although Dunkin' has previously experimented with sandwiches, the 57-year-old chain is billing what it calls its "all-day, oven-toasted menu" as its biggest change since its launch of espresso drinks in 2003."
Here's a brand that made a radical move in 03 by introducing espresso drinks, that's now turning itself into a combination of Quizno's and Pizza Hut.
While the brand clearly wants to extend its opportunity across the day-part, the problem is that in most cases, consumers can only recognize and remember a brand for one thing.
Dunkin should just take a look at the difficulties Starbucks has had moving into other areas beyond coffee. Its latest strategy is to do away with some of their breakfast offering all together. On January 30th, Howard Schultz told analysts that warm sandwiches will be out by year's end because serving sandwiches got in the way of employees ability to make the perfect shot of espresso
The problem for ad agencies and brand consultants is they find it hard to argue for focus because the business guys have all the numbers that show incremental growth to revenue.
It’s hard to present data on future brand health to clients because it doesn’t exist, but perhaps we should be working together with our research partners to develop some new ways to discover and present that.
Posted by Ed Cotton
DD's new move any it isn't BUX
Dunkin'd move is actually NOT copying the Starbucks error. Starbucks error was in trying to compete against Dunkin's coveted breakfast sandwich business, and failing. Starbucks didn't try this until it entered the New ENgland market, Dunkin' Donuts' stronghold. It saw what customers who had a choice other than Starbucks or McDOnald's were doing and tried to grab some of that market share, but did it incorrectly. BUX used premade snadwiches thats at out is an apparently non food safe environemnt for a seemingly long time before they were heated. They were obviously pre-assembled, shrink wrapped and sitting around for days. Dumb, when you are trying to compete against DD and McD--2 players who have that breakfast down solid. Notice that BUX is NOT giving up selling music or coffee makers, just breakfast. It isn't shifting to a "focus on coffee," it is licking its wounds and admitting defeat in breakfast and smartly withdrawing to do what it does much better--be a cafe hangout that shills coffee related merchandisse and "lifestyle" products. It is selling a material lifestyle and supposed status (well, I might add), not breakfast.
Posted by Robert B on 02/15/2008 03:08 PM
Dunkin'd move is actually NOT copying the Starbucks error. Starbucks error was in trying to compete against Dunkin's coveted breakfast sandwich business, and failing. Starbucks didn't try this until it entered the New ENgland market, Dunkin' Donuts' stronghold. It saw what customers who had a choice other than Starbucks or McDOnald's were doing and tried to grab some of that market share, but did it incorrectly. BUX used premade snadwiches thats at out is an apparently non food safe environemnt for a seemingly long time before they were heated. They were obviously pre-assembled, shrink wrapped and sitting around for days. Dumb, when you are trying to compete against DD and McD--2 players who have that breakfast down solid. Notice that BUX is NOT giving up selling music or coffee makers, just breakfast. It isn't shifting to a "focus on coffee," it is licking its wounds and admitting defeat in breakfast and smartly withdrawing to do what it does much better--be a cafe hangout that shills coffee related merchandisse and "lifestyle" products. It is selling a material lifestyle and supposed status (well, I might add), not breakfast.
Posted by Robert B on 02/15/2008 03:08 PM
starbucks and breakfast
Thanks for sharing the insight on Starbucks and its problems with breakfast, something I clearly wasn't aware of. Obviously, execution is everything, but th point of the post was to talk about mindshare and focus. Simply put, Dunkin's move into pizzas just doesn't make sense to me, but perhaps I am the only one scratching my head.
Posted by ed cotton on 02/15/2008 03:22 PM
Thanks for sharing the insight on Starbucks and its problems with breakfast, something I clearly wasn't aware of. Obviously, execution is everything, but th point of the post was to talk about mindshare and focus. Simply put, Dunkin's move into pizzas just doesn't make sense to me, but perhaps I am the only one scratching my head.
Posted by ed cotton on 02/15/2008 03:22 PM
Who has donuts and hot coffee for lunch?
Focus.... I bet Dunkin's is focusing on how their business drops off considerably after morning-drive time. And they are asking themselves how they can stay more relevant and compete in the lunch/dinner environment. Is that losing focus? Certainly, their staffing levels drop during the day, but why shouldn't they capitalize on the rest of the day and make some money?
Posted by Jordan Guagliumi on 03/03/2008 09:13 PM
Focus.... I bet Dunkin's is focusing on how their business drops off considerably after morning-drive time. And they are asking themselves how they can stay more relevant and compete in the lunch/dinner environment. Is that losing focus? Certainly, their staffing levels drop during the day, but why shouldn't they capitalize on the rest of the day and make some money?
Posted by Jordan Guagliumi on 03/03/2008 09:13 PM
It appears you don't have Flash installed.
Nice post. Any ideas on convincing those business guys? I've been trapped for the past two years at a company with this exact problem. They would probably say this is a wonderful idea as it allows DD to sell more (I asked them about their thoughts on Sharper Image selling Trump Steaks and they thought it was a great business move for SHRP and they were impressed with SHRP's ability to get a deal done with Trump to sell his steaks). Another example is with customer service. They will, for example, cut the number of CSR's at the call center to save money. Customers are on hold longer and a few more will just hang up (saving even more money since we don't have to pay for that call anymore). Let's say that they try it for a month and compare it with the previous month, adjusting for seasonality. Low and behold, sales are at the same level but we managed to save money. What companies don't make decisions like this? (and can you think of any in NYC?)