Media Plan of the Year

Hill Holliday
Dunkin’ Donuts

With more than 81 million players every day, social gaming is a phenomenon agency Hill Holliday wanted to take full advantage of for Dunkin’ Donuts.

After learning of a secret project at gaming giant Electronic Arts to bring The Sims to social gaming, the agency seized the opportunity to exclusively pair its client and the wildly popular title.

Working alongside EA developers, Dunkin’ Donuts products such as the Big N’ Toasted breakfast sandwich were featured as virtual “gifts” in The Sims, driving positive brand association among players.

As The Sims took off on Facebook— scoring a whopping 30 million active users in the first month—Dunkin’ Donuts enjoyed 3.6 billion impressions, and nearly 1 million additional Facebook fans.

The campaign also got favorable coverage in media including The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic.

Says Hill Holliday co-director of media Cindy Stockwell: “Members of our social media team were themselves avid gamers and felt strongly about hearing what EA was up to given the popularity of The Sims in gaming circles. It turned out to be a case of being in the right place at the right time with the right brand.” —Charlie Warzel


Illustration: Carlos Monteiro