Last Month, Jim Andrews of IEG wrote a great "Assertions" column that detailed Dunkin' Donuts strategy to maximize its partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles. I wanted to share a few key points from the writeup, as I thought there were some strong takeaways for properties and QSR/Casual dining partners...

Chief Objective of Dunkin' Donuts' Partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles:

• To set itself apart from a price war on breakfast items being waged by competitors, McDonalds and Wawa

Strategic Approach

• Dunkin' Donuts developed a program that leveraged its deal as the official coffee, donut, and breakfast sandwich of the Philadelphia Eagles through every conceivable marketing channel
• Dunkin' marketed a menu item as the official breakfast sandwich of the Eagles without ever referring to what was actually in the sandwich and many customers ordered "an Eagles sandwich" without ever asking what it contained
• Results: The breakfast sandwich sales grew 10% because of the Eagles tie-in and without the discounting resorted to by the competition. On a side note, Dunkin' also sold an Eagles commemorative cup for $2.50 that drove $300K in profits.

Source: IEG Sponsorship Report - Assertions (5.19.2008)