Research, Conventions, and Codes

Nyaira and I begin on our Dunkin Donuts (DD) coffee commercial with research.
We started off with viewing all past DD commercials. The first one was from 1994 with its warm-toned lighting and graphics.

It displayed a friendly man pouring hot brewed cups of coffee to a grumpy line of people. They all took a sip and instantly are satisfied by the rich and bold taste. The next commercial was from a year ago with colorful graphics following a cheerful man walking down the street as he sipped from his morning coffee. The people all around him seem confused at his joy until he spots a woman also drinking DD coffee. They end up both being happy together as it cuts into a montage of the coffee.

I notice in both commercials that they dramatize pouring the coffee into a cup as it hits the ice in some cases. They also zoomed in on the dark color of the coffee and talk about how striking and smooth the taste was. In addition, both commercials are set in the morning and “the start of their day”. This makes sense as many Americans start their day with coffee for breakfast.

We feel that we could also similarly start in the morning with upbeat music. We wanted to emphasize coffee as being part of someone's daily routine. In these commercials, they always try to show all aspects of the coffee without just letting it sit there.  They manipulate the coffee by pouring it on ice or out of the pot into a cup. They also show the versatility of the coffee by switching the toppings; like foam for hot and ice and straw for cold through editing. Some modern coffee commercials have visual illusions stressing that coffee is natural and comes from the coffee bean. They do this by pouring beans into a cup and then tilting the cup and watching coffee pour out. We think that it adds a subconscious sustainable/nature-y effect on the brand.

 In the end, all Dunkin Donut coffee advertisements close with a solid colored background or a freeze-frame on what the camera was viewing before with the logo centered on the screen. Usually, the slogan is also said and written on the bottom of the screen. I think this is very effective because it is the final thing the audience will see and should remember from the commercial. I’ve noticed them highlight their branding colors, pink and orange, to not confuse Dunkin’s coffee with competitors. We were also going to match the traditional closing of DD commercials as to not confuse our audience with brands. That should keep it true to the Dunkin Donut coffee experience.