Dunkin’ Donuts Celebrates National Coffee Day with New Alexa Skill
In case your social media wasn’t inundated with the news, last Friday was National Coffee Day. Dunkin’ Donuts capitalized on the holiday with a new Amazon Alexa skill. The Dunkin’ Donuts skill for Alexa is educational, not transactional. Alexa users can enable the skill by saying “Alexa, open Dunkin’ Donuts,” and either take a coffee quiz or hear some coffee facts. I gave the skill a try and took the quiz. It was five questions and I only got one right – you would have to be a very loyal customer to know some of the answers outright, like how many years the company has been in business. But I will say the quiz was very on brand, for instance when I got an answer wrong, Alexa said “Do-nut give up.”
Alexa as a Promotional Tool
The Dunkin’ Donuts skill may not be very useful when it comes to ordering actual coffee, but it does show that brands are starting to see Alexa as yet another digital marketing tool to engage with consumers. The Alexa skill was one of a few digital assets Dunkin’ Donuts used to promote its products on National Coffee Day, including partnerships with phone apps like Timehop and Snapchat. It was also the first to be listed in the company’s press release for the holiday’s promotion.
Although I wouldn’t use it again, the Dunkin’ Donuts Alexa skill did make me feel like I was talking to the coffee brand. It also made me remember that there is a Dunkin’ Donuts a few blocks away from my house. The next step would be to let me place my coffee order on Alexa to actually get me there. I imagine that functionality will be coming soon. Until then, “Alexa, open Starbucks.”
62 Percent of Alexa Skills Have No Ratings, But 4 Have Over 1,000
