When it comes to a combination of coffee and donuts, the name that comes into the mind before anything else is the Dunkin’ Donuts. This international brand started in 1950s when it was created for the purpose of offering construction and blue collared workers a cup of coffee and something to eat before they would start their shifts. Since that time, Dunkin’ Donuts has evolved into a brand from where everyone can get not only coffee and donuts but also full meals. However, company still focuses the people at work who are not usually interested in full meals during working hours.
In this article, we are going to discuss the evolution of packaging design used by the company.
The original packaging
Even the very first packaging design used by Dunkin’ Donuts was nothing less than a masterpiece from the perspective of marketability. It was much darker and quite compelling. The colors used in the packaging represented coffee and donuts very well. The signature element in the design was a doughy character, Dunkie, holding donuts in the hands.
The first design was complex. So it was replaced by a much simpler design which made Dunkin’ Donuts the real hit. This is the design quite similar to what has been there till the end of 2018. Back in the time when the packaging design was made simpler, it started getting recognition as a brand that would offer a perfect breakfast to the working people.
Dunkin’ Donuts Retro Pink
In 1960s, Dunkin’ Donutsswitched to a friendlier pink color. That was the time when Dunkin’ was going through major expansion. The pink color used at that time was quite bright for today’s people but it was something that looked quite compelling at that time.The pink color has a special appeal for the women. Since women in 1960s were joining the workforce, the idea of introducing pink packaging led to a huge number of sales for Dunkin’.
Classic Orange and Pink
While pink color was doing great, the representation of coffee through design was missing. To ensure this representation, Dunkin’ brought orange color in their logo for the representation of warm coffee in 1970s. This design change became an integral part of the packaging design; and it is still being used. That was the time when Dunkin’ also tried expanding their product line. The donut home treats, Munchkins, quickly became the consumers’ favorite.
Although Dunkin’ was originally made to serve the working people at office, it also started targeting the home-based customers by introducing cereal. However, this new expansion was not endorsed by the customers because they kept recognizing Dunkin’ for what it was made for.
New packaging
2019 is the year of further evolution for Dunkin’ Donuts. The company changed their name to just Dunkin’. The reason is that there is a wider range of products now being offered by Dunkin’. So, keeping the brand name a donut specific one makes other products, somehow, underrated. The packaging design is still simpler, i.e. a combination of pink and orange. However, the huge portion of the packaging is white.