For 70 years Dunkin’ has dominated Iced Coffee. Unfortunately, they couldn’t say the same when it came to Cold Brew sales. Cold Brew is critical to the future of the coffee category. What started as a “hipster” trend is now dominating the mainstream coffee space. Daily cold brew consumption has increased over 1000% since 2015 and its growth can be largely attributed to a whole new generation of coffee-drinkers, Generation Z. In fact, cold brew is the #1 most consumed coffee beverage amongst 18-21 year olds. So when we realized that Gen Z was flocking to our biggest competitor to get their fix, we had to do something to help build our credibility. With the younger generations having more of a presence on brands, we needed to build credibility, and talk to a younger audience in a way that feels authentic and real to them.

Turns out Charli D’Amelio, the biggest breakout star of 2020, on TikTok, the biggest breakout app of 2020, was just another fan OBSESSED with our Cold Brew. In the last year Charli D’Amelio has taken the world by storm, going from a regular TikTok account to the most followed person on the platform with 111 Million followers, and growing every second.

Dunkin’ noticed the love early on, and with Charli’s fans practically begging us to collaborate, we decided to make the relationship official by doing something Dunkin’ has never done before. Introducing Dunkin’s first ever fan-made signature drink, The Charli, based on her go-to order, a Cold Brew with Whole Milk & three pumps of Caramel and putting it on our menu nationwide. We made it official with a long-term fan, making her (and her fans’) dreams come true.

Gen Z is well-known for their skepticism towards advertising. It was absolutely crucial that Dunkin’ connect with them where they are and relate to them authentically. By keeping content as native to Charli’s platform as possible, and positioning the collab not as a mere partnership, but a long-term relationship made official, the brand was able to connect with Gen Z in a way that resonated genuinely.

Dunkin’ has also seen from previous programs that a sprinkle of fame goes a long way, and that fans seek recognition for their creative inspiration. Thus, the campaign sought programming that would shine the spotlight back on fans via a UGC component, while offering unique brand experiences and opportunities with Charli sure to excite fans. The Charli relationship also provided an opportunity to engage media beyond those regularly covering Dunkin’, and so the brand leveraged exclusive interviews with Charli for entertainment and teen-focused outlets.

Our one-of-a-kind drink launched on September 2nd and was available until mid-November on the menu at Dunkin’ stores nationwide. But we didn’t just launch with a one-of-a-kind drink, we also launched, and dominated over a two-month period, with a fully-integrated social campaign that had Charli posting all across her social channels and with a takeover of all Dunkin’s social channels with exclusive content, AR Instagram filters, stickers, one-of-a-kind influencer boxes, Vlog-type videos, and of course, Charli dances – all set to an original TikTok track inspired by Charli herself.

We even created a contest on TikTok that rewarded winning fans with the chance to join a Zoom with Charli herself.

Best part is, it worked. Because once The Charli was officially added to the menu nationwide, it was enjoyed like crazy nationwide, generating more than 4 billion impressions and more than 250 million views on TikTok, leading Dunkin’ to become the most popular QSR brand on the app.

Beyond social, this campaign drove an immediate spike in cold brew sales, boosting them 20% higher than average on day one and 45% higher on day two. The campaign also increased app downloads by 60%, created a new record for daily active app users and sold more than 400 thousand drinks in just the first few days, turning millions of Charli fans into millions of Dunkin’ fans.

In fact, it did so well, we did it all again in 2021 and brought the Remix to Charli x Dunkin’ fans nationwide which was just as successful as the original.