Dunkin' Donuts recently announced a possible change to the most visible part of their brand, its name. The coffee and donut chain is debating dropping ‘Donuts,' going by just ‘Dunkin'' in the future. Bruce Clark, D'Amore-McKim School of Business associate professor and marketing group coordinator, recently weighed in on the change.
The company is set to test the name change at several retail locations across the U.S., and will make a final decision on the matter by 2018.
“This basically puts up a trial balloon: Will dropping ‘Donuts' bring more people into the store? The company gets to find some results without committing to doing anything until 2018,” Clark said.
Clark believes this is a good move for the brand, as they have been making a strong shift toward specializing in just coffee for years.
“This is a move that makes a lot of sense for Dunkin',” Clark said. “They've been trying to become a coffee company for years now—consider the ‘America runs on Dunkin'' campaign. This is just the brand catching up to reality.”