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- Dunkin’ roasted Starbucks in its Super Bowl advertisement.
- The ad jabbed at Starbucks’ long wait times and extensive customization options.
- Starbucks has recently discussed efforts to reduce wait times and simplify its menu.
Dunkin’ used the biggest ad space of the year to jab at Starbucks.
The Super Bowl advertisement, which featured the actor-sibling duo Ben and Casey Affleck and the football coach Bill Belichick decked out in Dunkin’ merch, depicted a competition among coffee brands.
Toward the end, the Affleck brothers and Belichick took turns roasting a group of baristas dressed in green jackets, which resembled Starbucks’ signature green aprons and uniforms.
Though the trio did not explicitly mention Starbucks, they targeted some of the chain’s widely publicized problems, such as long wait times and the extensive customization options that have contributed to them.
When one of the green-clad baristas addressed the Dunkin’ team by saying, “About to get roasted! Like a dark seasonal roast with coriander and slight balsamic drizzle,” Belichick replied, “Sounds like what’s in my garbage disposal.”
Ben Affleck then asked, “How much to wait a half hour to get my name spelled wrong on the cup?”
Casey Affleck piled on: “Nobody wants a goat milk double half-caff soy milk capp. You could just brew it — it’s beans and water.”
Representatives for Dunkin’ and Starbucks did not respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.
In an extended six-minute version of the ad, they also targeted McDonald’s, where coffee and breakfast are an increasingly important part of the menu.
Starbucks’ new CEO, Brian Niccol, has been working to simplify the chain’s offerings and reduce wait times by streamlining its mobile ordering system, including by testing a new algorithm for mobile orders.
On the company’s January 28 earnings call, Niccol and Starbucks’ finance chief said the chain would also cut 30% of its menu items in a bid to streamline service.
A Starbucks representative confirmed to BI on Wednesday that the chain planned to lower the cap on the number of drinks customers could buy in one mobile order to 12 from 15 and remove some customization options for its mobile orders.
Niccol, who said mobile orderings had “chipped away” at the company’s “soul,” is trying to make Starbucks a cozy coffeehouse where customers can hang out. Dunkin’, meanwhile, has long been known as a cheaper to-go coffee shop with little comfortable seating.
