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What's in a Name?
October 20, 2006

A story making the rounds earlier this year had it that officials at Dunkin’ Donuts gave $100 to a few dozen of its most loyal customers, telling them to spend it all at Starbucks. The quid pro quo: They’d report back what they liked and didn’t like about the upscale coffeehouses. The officials also handed the same amount to Starbucks partisans, asking them to do exactly the same thing—only to drop it at Dunkin’ Donuts.

The differences between the groups’ likes and dislikes were so pronounced that Dunkin’ Donuts began referring to them as “tribes.” Why is that not surprising? All you have to do is glance at the names the chains have given to recently introduced products.

Starbucks	Dunkin’ Donuts
2004
Peppermint Brownie	Cinnamon Stick
Toffee Nut Latte	Hot Apple Pie
Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino	Iced Coffees
2005
Chantico Drinking Chocolate	Steak & Cheese Breakfast Sandwich
Mint Mocha Frappucccino	Tropicana Coolatta
Shaken Iced Green Tea	Turbo Ice
Ethos Water	Hot Coffee Flavors
2006
Eggnog Chai Latte	Smoothies
Reduced Fat Coffee Cake	Supreme Omelet Sandwich

Posted by David Farkas on October 20, 2006 | Comments (0)