Dive Brief:
- E-commerce destination Rue La La and Dunkin' Donuts are launching a branded and shoppable "Girl on the Go: Fall Style" online boutique that highlights the DD Perks loyalty program, according to a press release from the companies.
- The digital partnership rolled out yesterday on ruelala.com and the Rue La La mobile app, where members can enroll in DD Perks with the code "RUE." Anyone doing so by Oct. 31 will get the "Rue 30," which offers 30 days of free shipping. Anyone already in the DD Perks program will receive the same offer via email.
- Dunkin' Donuts chose Rue La La to showcase DD Perks and bolster enrollment in part due to the platform's 16 million worldwide members, per the release.
Dive Insight:
The branded partnership lets Dunkin' tap into a massive, targeted user base, which will be a solid way to drive engagement with a loyalty program that's increasingly important to its business. For Rue La La, it offers its fans a valuable benefit in free shipping as fashion shopping heads into the key fall season. Like many brand partnerships, each party gets a direct benefit, with no real downside considering the two complement each other, as Craig Kapilow, senior director of integrated marketing at Rue La La, noted that "when you think fall, you think fashion and that first cup of fall-flavored coffee."
Dunkin' Donuts has been particularly active this year in introducing marketing efforts that feature a strong digital tie-in. Those have included a contest to have shoppers select its next iced coffee flavors via Snapchat geofilters exclusively available in-store, as well as voting through comments on pinned posts on the brand's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. The latest integration similarly has an eye toward mobile in being available on Rue La La's official app.
It'll be interesting to see how Dunkin's marketing strategy evolves in the months ahead. Last week, Tony Weisman, a veteran of Publicis' DigitasLBi agency, filled the U.S. CMO role, which had been open for about a year. The brand has also mulled shortening its name to just "Dunkin'," which would better reflect its core coffee business and long-running tagline of "America Runs on Dunkin'."
