Why are Dunkin's leaders not afraid of the negative reactions associated with the name change?

Dunkin's Donuts hits the "Donuts" of his name.

On Tuesday, the channel announced plans to officially change its name to "Dunkin" in January.

For a certain segment of customers, such a change is worrying and almost blasphemous.

"Why would anyone want to distance himself from donuts?" one person commented on Dunkin's Facebook publication & Donuts announcing the change.

However, the leaders said Tuesday in a call to the media that there was no reason to fear a negative reaction from the channel.

"We have tested this extensively with consumers in some of our major long-standing markets, as well as some of our new markets, and the response has been extremely positive," said Tony Weisman, Dunkin & # 39; US CMO Donuts.

Dunkin has begun testing the abbreviated name in new-generation "new generation" stores and remodeled earlier this year. According to Weisman, the test was a success and helped convince Dunkin's Donuts to make the change in all the stores.

"Consumers are coming and they will tell the crew or franchisee that it looks really fair, it looks like the brand I know and love," Weisman said. "And so, I think we've had very little negative feedback in these new stores, and I think it's going to be very, very familiar to people."

According to executives, the next-generation stores continued to record significant donut sales, thanks in part to the clear, customer-focused donut cases in the new, remodeled new-generation stores.

"In our next-generation stores, we sell more donuts than before," said CEO David Hoffmann.

In addition, Weisman and Hoffmann both said the channel has long been simply dubbed "Dunkin" in an informal conversation, especially after the launch of the "America runs on Dunkin" marketing campaign 10 years ago.

"Our guests have fondly referred to our Dunkin brand for nearly 70 years now," said Hoffmann.

"This is not a change for reasons of change," continued Hoffmann. "For two years, we have focused on the evolution of Dunkin" to become the leading brand in the beverage market and we have implemented what we call our growth model. "

With the new name, Dunkin's Donuts reorganizes its store design. The new generation stores are optimized for on-the-go customers, and they offer more cold drinks such as cold nitro-infused beers and digital control terminals.