• by Larissa Faw , June 27, 2018

Dunkin' Donuts is appointing Publicis Media as its U.S. media buying and planning agency following a formal review. The incumbent was Trillia, part of Interpublic's Hill Holliday.

Publicis will develop a new unit within the Groupe to oversee the account, pulling in resources from across Publicis Groupe's Digitas and Blue 449. Jodi Robinson, president of Digitas North America, will serve as the executive lead of the Dunkin' Donuts team, which will be based in both Boston and NY. 

The agency's responsibilities will include working closely with Dunkin' Donuts' company leadership, franchise leadership and existing partners on all national and local media-planning and buying. 

Parent company Dunkin' Brands Inc., which also runs the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain, spends some $150 million advertising the iconic brand, known for its "America Runs on Dunkin" tagline. 

In April, Dunkin' picked Omnicom Group's BBDO Worldwide as its new creative agency of record and named Publicis Groupe's ARC/Leo Burnett to handle retail and in-store marketing. 

"We selected the Publicis team because they brought forth best-in-class people, tools and ideas that demonstrated they are the ideal partner to help us innovate the way we engage with our consumers and drive the business forward," says Keith Lusby, Vice President of Media for Dunkin' Donuts U.S. 

It probably didn't hurt that last September, Dunkin' Donuts hired a new U.S. CMO who is undoubtedly more familiar with the agency’s work and culture than many--Tony Weisman, the former North American CEO of Publicis Groupe's DigitasLBi. 

Dunkin’ hired MediaLink.to help manage the review process.