Dunkin' Launches Super Bowl Ad Featuring Ben Affleck in Fictional '90s Sitcom "Good Will Dunkin'"
MARKETING
The campaign takes viewers back to 1995 with a fictional sitcom pilot featuring Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Jason Alexander, Alfonso Ribeiro, Jaleel White, Jasmine Guy, Ted Danson, and a cameo from Tom Brady.
Super Bowl ads typically run 30 seconds and fight for viewers' attention in a crowded broadcast. For Super Bowl LX, Dunkin' and Ben Affleck took a different approach: they created an entire fictional '90s sitcom. The brand unveiled "Good Will Dunkin'," presented as a never-aired pilot that reimagines the origin of Dunkin's iced coffee in 1995.
The spot features a cast of '90s television stars, including Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Jason Alexander, and Ted Danson, crafting what feels like a piece of forgotten pop culture history, even though it never actually existed.
The "Lost Pilot" Premise
Set in a Boston-area Dunkin’ in 1995, the pilot finds Ben Affleck stepping into the role of "Will," a quick-witted South Boston kid who scribbles equations on store windows and organizes MUNCHKINS® into the Fibonacci sequence.
The "breakthrough" happens when LeBlanc’s character cracks a joke about Will accidentally putting ice in his coffee, sparking the invention of the brand's now-iconic iced beverage. The episode is punctuated by era-defining sitcom tropes, ensemble chaos, and a surprise Tom Brady cameo that provides a "very Boston punchline."
The Artists Equity Collaboration
Developed through an ongoing partnership with Artists Equity (the studio co-founded by Affleck and Matt Damon), the campaign represents Affleck’s fourth time directing a Dunkin’ Big Game spot. By treating the commercial as a cinematic origin story rather than a sales pitch, Dunkin’ is connecting two kinds of '90s comfort: the sitcoms people rewatch and the coffee runs they count on.
“The '90s gave us iconic sitcoms, and Dunkin' gave the world iced coffee,” said Jill Nelson, CMO of Dunkin’. “Good Will Dunkin' brings us back in time to imagine the moment those worlds collided.”
Super Bowl Monday: 1.995 Million Free Coffees
To drive immediate action following the "lost pilot" reveal, Dunkin’ is leaning into a massive digital giveaway. On Super Bowl Monday (February 9), the brand will give away 1.995 million free iced coffees (any size) via the Dunkin’ app using the code GOODWILLDUNKIN.
The brand is also dropping a limited collection of vintage-inspired apparel at DunkinRunsOnMerch.com, featuring denim jackets, "Will Hunting"-inspired visors-with-hair, and throwback koozies.
The "Cultural Lore" Advantage
The most memorable brand campaigns don't just showcase a product, they create a context that makes it feel culturally significant. Dunkin's "Good Will Dunkin'" exemplifies this by tying its iced coffee origin to a fabricated piece of '90s television history.
For consumer brands, the insight is straightforward: when you can connect your product to a cherished cultural moment, in this case, the golden age of sitcoms, you elevate it beyond a functional purchase. By assembling recognizable faces from beloved '90s shows and presenting iced coffee's creation as a storyline that could have aired alongside Friends or Seinfeld, Dunkin' gives the product emotional weight and context.
The strategy works because it taps into something deeper than product features: it taps into collective memory and the warm feelings people have for a particular era. Brands that can embed their products into stories that feel familiar, even if they're invented, create a stronger emotional connection than those that simply list benefits. When a drink becomes part of a narrative people want to revisit, it stops being forgettable and starts being memorable.