Dunkin’ Donuts continues to ramp up its bet on Snapchat from both a content-creation and advertising standpoint, most recently by offering a one-day geofilter to boost engagement with its National Coffee Day promotion.

Given the popularity of Snapchat with consumers, Dunkin’ Donuts is building additional excitement for a promotion offering consumers a free coffee through a location-based mobile engagement opportunity. For today only, visitors to the chain’s locations can use a design featuring raining coffee beans at any location in the United States.

“We know that Dunkin’ Donuts’ guests are always on-the-go and constantly connected through their mobile devices, and one of the fastest growing mobile apps is Snapchat, which is used 20-plus times a day on average,” said Melanie Cohn, social media manager at Dunkin’ Donuts. “This high engagement makes it the perfect platform to help build excitement around National Coffee Day.

“On National Coffee Day, we’re driving people in-store to take advantage of our offer for a free medium cup of Dunkin’ Donuts hot or iced Rainforest Alliance Certified Dark Roast Coffee,” she said. “The geofilter, which can only be unlocked at or near Dunkin’ Donuts stores, is an excellent tool to reach our customers directly.

“The playful design of the one-day geofilter will feature raining coffee beans, and we hope it compels our fans to celebrate the day with their friends via Snapchat and spread the news about the offer.”

Mobile engagement
On September 29, which is National Coffee Day, consumers can receive a free medium Dark Roast coffee. All members of the DD Perks Rewards Program will receive a coupon for a free coffee or any beverage, either via email or in the Dunkin’ mobile app, that can be redeemed any time before the end of the year.

To encourage people to sign up for the DD Perks program, Dunkin’ Donuts is also offering, for today only, four free coffees to new enrollees.

The first coupon will be emailed upon enrolling with coupons for additional free beverages sent by email and available in the app each week during the first three weeks of October.

The promotion is also being used to help Dunkin’ Donuts drive awareness of its newest menu offerings, Macchiato and Pumpkin Macchiato.

Embracing Snapchat
Dunkin’ Donuts is also leveraging Snapchat for advertising.

Earlier this month, the chain said it will run multiple video units in the ESPN Discover Story on Snapchat as part of its renewed sponsorship for ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown program (see story).

In another example of how the chain is leveraging key mobile platforms for its marketing strategy, Dunkin’ Donuts reflected its commitment to navigation application Waze and mobile’s potential to reach nearby drivers by updated its existing campaign with the voice of Rob Gronkowski (see story).

“We know that today consumers are faced with more messaging than ever before from various media, so it is important to become and stay relevant within the digital space,” Ms. Cohn said. “As a brand, we’ve made a commitment to Snapchat both from a content creation standpoint and as an advertising platform.

“We’ve already utilized the geofilter feature to kick-off Pumpkin at Dunkin’ this year,” she said. “We’re also advertising our Monday Night Football content on ESPN’s Discover channel on Snapchat.

“We see Snapchat as a unique in-store experience for our guests and we have seen great success with our previous Snapchat geofilters.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York