Dunkin'
Dunkin' put a creator's regular order on the national menu and named it after her. "The Charli" — cold brew, whole milk, three pumps of caramel swirl — launched in September 2020 with Charli D'Amelio, then TikTok's most-followed creator.
- Cold brew sales, day after launch
- +45%
- App downloads
- +57%
- Drinks sold, first five days
- Hundreds of thousands
What happened
The mechanic is the reason this campaign is still cited. Rather than paying for posts, Dunkin' gave the creator something only a brand can give: a permanent, purchasable object with her name on it. That converts an audience into footfall, because the only way to participate in the joke is to buy the drink.
The results were reported at the time by Tubefilter and CNBC: hundreds of thousands of Charli drinks sold in the first five days, a 20% lift in all cold brew sales on launch day and 45% the day after, and a 57% spike in Dunkin' app downloads — the app being where the drink had to be pre-ordered.
Campaign details
- Campaign
- The Charli
- Launched
- 2020
- Sector
- Food & beverage
- Platforms
- TikTok
Creators involved
- Charli D'Amelio
What to take from it
The strongest creator partnerships give the audience something to do, not just something to watch. A purchasable object closes the loop between attention and revenue.