Dunkin’ Donuts Instagram contest

Dunkin’ Donuts is currently running an interesting social media activation that encourages consumers to interact with the brand in a simple yet creative way, using the coolest social network of the moment: Instagram. The challenge is pretty straightforward: how would you dress up your Dunkin’ Donuts cup for Halloween? Users are encouraged to decorate the cup with a costume and then share a picture on Instagram using the hashtag #DresseDD for the chance to win a gift card.

I like it because it’s a an activation that can potentially work well for branding but also to drive traffic to coffee shops. However, while I was scrolling the images tagged #DresseDD, I couldn’t help smiling thinking that this initiative is basically taking us back in time at least by five years. Please, don’t tell me that brand campaigns built on user generated content are back!!! Oh no, wait, right, they never went away. They are just using a different costume, the hashtag.