Dunkin’ is a heritage brand with a hugely loyal following in the Northeast, looking to signal its transformation into a nationally expanding premier beverage-led, on-the-go brand. A key component of this transformation included the revamp of Dunkin’s Espresso offering, which was neither well-known nor well-regarded by latte drinkers of America.

The inspiration for Dunkin’s espresso line came from the portafilter (which holds the coffee grounds in an espresso machine) and a truth about the new coffee platform. Every Dunkin’ restaurant received a new Espresso machine to deliver the hand-crafted quality, bold flavored espresso based drinks. In the portafilter the team saw an exclamation point—a perfect tie-in for the typography-driven rebrand, and a perfect shorthand to the flavor experience. The color palette heroes the brand’s signature orange which further drives espresso to stand out and differentiation from Dunkin’s core coffee offer. The heritage, souvenir-inspired bespoke Dunkin’ Serif typeface further premiumizes the offering; together the identity expresses something new, exciting, and worth re-considering Dunkin’ as a credible player in hand-crafted Espresso.

This was an opportunity to drive reevaluation of Dunkin’s new hand-crafted, premium Espresso offering with a bold new sub-identity. This sub-identity features the brand’s signature orange colorways, a bespoke heritage-inspired serif typeface, and an exclamation point inspired by the portafilter—a symbol of Dunkin’s new, high quality espresso machines.

The color palette heroes the brand’s signature orange to bring standout, warmth and flavor, and deliberately omits Dunkin’s other equity color—pink—to help elevate the offering and create differentiation from Dunkin’s other core platforms.

The heritage-inspired bespoke Dunkin’ Serif typeface works to further premiumize the offering and further differentiate it.

In the broader sub-set of the category and core Espresso competition, Dunkin’ stands out by bravely not following the traditional and expected mahogany-style, craft aesthetic of coffee culture today.

In Week 1, Dunkin’ experienced the highest espresso sales ever and iced espresso transactions increased by more than 40% (USA).