A Dunkin’ Super Bowl commercial might not have happened without one of the eponymous chain’s celebrity fans: Bostonian and actor Ben Affleck, who directed and starred in this year’s “Dunkin’ ‘Drive-Thru’ Starring Ben.”
The chain — who is apparently on a first name basis with Affleck — enlisted the star’s help in making their first-ever Super Bowl ad after seeing viral footage of him working the drive-thru at a Dunkin’ in Medford, Massachusetts.
“We thought, who better to represent [our menu] than the ultimate Dunkin’ runner, Ben Affleck?” said Dunkin’ chief marketing officer, Jill McVicar Nelson, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
The ad featured Affleck working the drive-thru window, taking orders and selfies with paying customers. At the end of the commercial, Affleck’s wife, singer Jennifer Lopez, pays him a visit.
“Is this what you do when you say you’re going to work all day?” she asks incredulously, before reminding her husband to grab her a glazed donut on his way out.
Fans immediately took to social media, where previous footage of Affleck with Dunkin’ coffee has gone viral.
“All was leading Ben Affleck to this moment, his destiny had come true,” wrote one user.
“As someone who has an album named ‘runs on dunkin’ filled with photos of Ben Affleck and his iced [Dunkin’], I needed that commercial,” wrote another.
Dunkin’ originally pitched an idea that involved Affleck paying a visit to the corporate boardroom, but he suggested an unscripted piece instead. Artists Equity, Affleck’s production company, filmed both.
Leading up to the commercial’s debut, the company teased it both on Twitter, and in stores. On Sunday morning, the company tweeted: “felt cute, might have Ben Affleck in our commercial later.”
“The way sneaker heads feel about exclusive shoe drops is how I feel about the Ben Affleck Dunkin drop,” wrote one user, after a sign on one of the digital menus read, “Something’s Ben Brewing,” with the date of the Super Bowl underneath.
While some were excited to see a familiar face promoting Dunkin’s breakfast value menu, some were less pleased. While Affleck’s heavy Boston accent did not feel to disappoint, his customer service might have.
“It’s Boston, after all, so we had some rather coarse and agitated people who were willing to voice their displeasure in a colorful way, and I’m still lobbying to include the most interesting of those in some of the edgiest social spots,” Affleck told the WSJ.
Dunkin’ said some scenes that did not make the final cut will be promoted on the company’s social media channels instead.
A Dunkin’ spokesperson said that the chain will also be airing the scripted ad in the coming weeks.
