Dunkin' Donuts' Twitter Header Tracks Votes in Latest Promo

To celebrate its seasonal holiday beverages, Dunkin’ Donuts has launched the Flavor-Full HoliDDay Coffee Twitter Sweepstakes with an interactive Twitter header that tracks votes.

This holiday, Dunkin’ introduced its newest seasonal beverage flavor, White Chocolate, and brought back Peppermint Mocha and Gingerbread. As a result, it is asking its Twitter followers to share which flavor they think has the most holiday cheer.

And as a reward, from November 27 through December 3, followers who share their seasonal flavor preference will have a chance to win one of three daily $50 mGifts, or virtual Dunkin’ Donuts cards that can be sent via email, text or Facebook through the Dunkin’ mobile app.

The campaign includes a new – albeit temporary – Twitter header image with an interactive element. As fans vote, corresponding cups of iced coffee displayed on the header fill up in real time. Throughout the sweepstakes, fans can track which seasonal flavor is in the lead and Dunkin’ will share which flavor won at the end of the promotion in the header and via tweet.

As of Friday, the White Chocolate and Peppermint Mocha cups were about half-full; Gingerbread was about one-quarter.

At the end of the campaign, the Flavor-Full HoliDDay Coffee header will be replaced by a static image. However, Dunkin’ says it will retain the new header format and the brand will look for additional opportunities to incorporate interactive promotions.

In order to participate in the Flavor-Full HoliDDay Coffee Twitter Sweepstakes, fans must enter with one of three flavor hashtags – #DDWhiteChocolate, #DDPeppermintMocha or #DDGingerbread – and the hashtag #Entry.

According to the press release, Dunkin’ had 183,000 fans as of November 27. On Friday, the brand had nearly 186,000.

“As we’ve grown our followers to over 185,000 now, we want to make sure [Twitter is] relevant and fresh,” says Scott Hudler, vice president of global consumer engagement for Dunkin’ Brands. “We didn’t want to have a boring reskin or rebrand, we wanted to have something meaningful for the folks who follow us.”

What’s more, according to Dunkin’, flavors are one of the top discussion points on Twitter whenever the brand launches new flavors. Hudler even jokes that Pumpkin probably needs its own Twitter handle based on the level of discourse it generates each fall.

Dunkin’ worked with digital agency Studiocom on the campaign. However, Hudler would not reveal the magic behind what makes the cups fill up in real time.

“We do keep the technology fairly proprietary,” Hudler says. “It’s something we could leverage in the future.”

According to Hudler, Dunkin’ does about two Twitter promos a month. It also uses Twitter for listening and customer care.

Established in 1950, Dunkin’ has approximately 7,000 U.S. locations that are primarily on the East Coast.