It's time for Publicis to start making the doughnuts. Dunkin' Donuts has awarded its U.S. media agency account to a bespoke team of Publicis Media including Digitas and Blue 449 for media buying and planning. The appointment follows a review that began roughly three months ago.

Dunkin's incumbent media agency, IPG's Trilia, defended in the media review, which was led by MediaLink, the restaurant chain previously said.

In April, Dunkin' Donuts picked Omnicom Group's BBDO Worldwide as its new creative agency of record and named Publicis Groupe's ARC/Leo Burnett to handle retail and in-store marketing.

The agency switch comes as Dunkin' faces increased competition from rivals including McDonald's and Starbucks. The former recently admitted that it had dropped the ball a bit on the morning and is pushing to improve its sales during that important time of day. At the same time, coffee chains including Dunkin' and Starbucks have been trying to expand their share of sales later in the day with afternoon deals.

"We selected the Publicis team because they brought forth best-in-class people, tools and ideas that demonstrated they are the ideal partner to help us innovate the way we engage with our consumers and drive the business forward," said Keith Lusby, who joined as VP of media for Dunkin Donuts U.S. from MullenLowe Mediahub in late March.

Publicis has had some recent luck pitching with multiple-agency teams as part of its "Power of One" strategy. In late May, Digitas and Spark Foundry won the $400 million media account for Macy's, and Marriott awarded its media account to SapientRazorfish and Spark Foundry in March.

"Dunkin' Donuts is an iconic American brand and we're thrilled to partner and help them continue to win consumer attention, loyalty and growth through transformative marketing solutions spanning investment, strategy, content, data and analysis and more," said Jodi Robinson, President of Digitas North America, and executive lead of the Dunkin' Donuts team, in a statement.