NAA, Jan. 24

Philly Inquirer, Daily News work with Dunkin' Donuts to boost single copy sales

The old mantra goes that to increase sales you have to ask for the order. In single copy, you need to be where the people are and this means being in as many venues as possible, preferably early morning stops if you’re a morning newspaper. In the Philadelphia Media Holdings, LLC market, there are over 260 Dunkin’ Donuts. A year ago, the Philadelphia papers, The Philadelphia Inquirer (daily and Sunday) and the Philadelphia Daily News, were available only through vending boxes, but thanks to the effort of George Price, Regional Retail Sales Manager, and Jackie Keown, Central Atlantic marketing manager for Dunkin Donuts, the papers are accessible today in over 60 area Dunkin’ Donuts.

Philadelphia Media Holdings, LLC set up a meeting with Keown and presented to her a comprehensive program whereby they could drive single copy sales volume by promoting availability in the Dunkin’ Donuts locations. They were able to address all of Keown’s distribution and promotional concerns regarding the selling of the newspaper in the Dunkin’ Donuts locations. They also developed a co-branded display unit which helped close the deal.

By developing a comprehensive plan and presenting it to Jackie Keown, the newspapers gained an ally who was all too aware of the value that newspapers have in increasing sales. Other players in the market that are going through a current a coffee war of sorts includes McDonalds and Wawa (a convenience store); two retailers who already know the value that can be derived from selling single copy newspapers at their outlets. Keown became a champion of the program and immediately took the proposal and had an internal ad committee meeting with key franchisees within the region. She sold them on the benefits of why it is important to offer a newspaper to their customer instead of letting the customer shop elsewhere.

This is the first significant attempt of achieving distribution in all Dunkin Donuts stores in the market. The newspaper management team took several steps to ensure flawless execution of the program. From the retailer perspective, Dunkin’ Donuts has been aggressive in utilizing Post-it notes on the front page of the newspapers to promote new item introductions or combo deals.

The major costs for the program were the purchase of special racks with branded POP. But considering the average increase in sales, 1,000 Daily Inquirer, 1,000 Daily News and 800 Sunday Inquirer, the initial return on investment is significant. It’s important to keep in mind that since this is a new relationship, there are plenty of new promotional opportunities to come.

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