The Holes in Dunkin’ Donuts’ Word of Mouth Campaign
It’s possible to infer a word-of-mouth campaign’s value without having a loyalty program, but the math tends to be fuzzy at best. Colloquy’s editorial director Rick Ferguson cites the example of Dunkin’ Donuts, which hired a buzz-marketing firm to help introduce a latte coffee drink.
According to Ferguson, the agency used a network of paid reps who went into four markets, had conversations about the drink and handed out coupons. For comparison purposes, Dunkin’ Donuts promoted the latte drink via radio commercials in four other markets.
Three of the four markets where the word-of-mouth program ran showed higher lifts in the espresso drinks category (which is how Dunkin’ Donuts’ point-of-sale machines classified the drink) than in the radio advertising markets.
Did this mean word of mouth worked?
Not necessarily.
