Krispy Kreme - Talk Like a Pirate Day

Objective

Krispy Kreme leveraged Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19) to drive foot traffic and sales across 263 US locations. The brand aimed to create a shareable, playful mobile experience tied to a cultural moment, offering free doughnuts as the primary incentive to encourage in-store visits and participation.

Solution

The campaign featured ArrPhone, a mobile web experience accessible at arrphone.krispykreme.com, where users could equip virtual pirate-themed accessories including tattoos, mustaches, and other costume items. The site included a pirate name generator that created unique pirate aliases, 5 shareable video clips, and 11 animated GIF images for visual engagement. The mechanics bridged digital and physical: customers could show the virtual accessory on their phones in-store, which counted as one of three pirate-wear items needed to qualify for rewards. The promotion offered one free Original Glazed doughnut to anyone who spoke pirate language on September 19, and a free dozen to customers wearing three pirate costume pieces (mix of real and virtual items). Geotargeted mobile ads reached customers within five miles of participating stores.

Results

Not published.