Dunkin describes its tribe as the regular, everyday folks who keep America running. Which often includes firemen, construction workers, office staffers, moms and dads. But what do you do when you get the brief for Dunkin’s new SoBe Coolatta, targeted to teenage guys?
You regress, that’s what you do.
So many spots require you to shade subtle psychographic nuances. “What’s a modern working mother really feeling?” But with teenage boys, subtlety gets kicked to the curb. So when my partner Kevin Daley and I got the brief for Dunkin’s new SoBe Energy Coolatta, we put some lug-headed heavy metal on my iPod, then got to the serious business of regressing. Here’s how the concepting went down:
TIM: Okay, you’re 15. You’re amped. What do you do?
KEVIN: Rip phone books?
TIM: My friend Murph was awesome at that.
KEVIN: How do we push it?
TIM: Maybe we have kids ripping everything in sight?
KEVIN: Maybe a car.
TIM: A canoe or steamer trunk might be funny.
KEVIN: Have everyone chugging and high-fiving. Product everywhere.
TIM: And end it with something about “Rip it up with a SoBe Coolatta.”
KEVIN: That’d be cool.
TIM: Yeah. Can you imagine if they bought that?
And with that, one of my favorite Dunkin ads in the America Runs On Dunkin campaign was born. Not a subtle psychographic nuance in sight.
It’s good to be 15 again.
