McDonald’s Canada goes beyond the “I’m lovin’ it” slogan and fights media castigation
In early 2012, McDonald’s Canada decided to face a serious problem. The brand reputation was deteriorated and perception scores were hitting low rates. Negative messages were coming from all sides: documentaries, social media and blogs. To face this scenario, they hired Tribal DDB Toronto agency to develop the “Our Food, Your Questions” online-oriented campaign – Cannes Lion in promo & activation last year.
McDonald’s mission has always been to give the best food for the lowest price – a value for money statement. It provides affordable menus in thousands of outlets across the world. In the past decade it saw a bigger threat from competitors such as Burger King, local fast-food chains and other segments of the food service as well. The change in competitive landscape led McDonald’s to put efforts towards menu diversification and restaurant renovation in order to improve the in-store experience. Their new positioning focused on great food at an enjoyable (I’m lovin’ it!) ambiance. A strong brand directly influences sales results in the food industry.
In Canada, 2.5 million people visit their restaurants every day. It is the second biggest fast-food chain with 11% market share. Tim Horton’s is the leader in this highly competitive market. Globally, McDonald’s faced seriously problems when a documentary called “Super Size Me” was released, bringing concerns on food quality. Big multinationals often face accusation from the media. Furthermore, customers are more worried about the food they eat. McDonald’s Canada noticed that lower brand trust explained poor sales performance. Two options were left: to lose more market share or to raise awareness t...
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Works Cited
• McDonald’s Canada. http://www.mcdonalds.ca • Altura Solutions – Our Food Your Questions McDonald’s Ventures into Marketing. http://www.alturasolutions.com/our-food-your-questions-mcdonalds-ventures-into-content-marketing/
• Euro monitor- Fast food in Canada report. http://www.euromonitor.com/fast-food-in-canada/report • YouTube - McDonald's: Our Food. Your Questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBm8145-wp4 • YouTube - Why Do Our Burger Look Better on Advertising. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8& • Adage.com – McDonald’s Canada Social Media Success Worked in the US. http://adage.com/article/digital/mcdonald-s-canada-social-media-success-worked-u-s/236767/ • MarketingMag.ca – Marketer of the Year 2012: McDonald’s Canada.
http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/marketer-news/marketer-of-the-year-2012-mcdonalds-canada-70067
Firms such as P.F. Chang’s and Applebee’s, and Olive Garden, offer’s menus that may be (more or less) good substitutes of each other, but none of them perfect substitutes. When viewed from this stand point, no one company has the market cornered. Indeed, virtually every restaurant location must compete not only against other publicly traded chains, but also a wide array of delis, pizzerias, fine dining restaurants and the economy. The Cheesecake Factory is noticeably differentiated in its bakery, and represents commodity diversity that uses this segment of the company to stand out from a large number of
This analysis paper will analyze one advertisement picture that was produced by the mega food chain known as McDonalds. The ad is exuberantly promoting three cheeseburgers that the fast food chain is attempting to sell. The three cheeseburgers on the advertisement are the more popular attractions of the fast food chain including the “Angus Deluxe Third pounder”, the “Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese”, and the most famous one of all, “The Big Mac”. These three cheeseburgers have been the baseline for the McDonalds fast food chain ever since the restaurant opened. The burgers are also known world wide, making this advertisement is just a way to get the public to come and buy there food.
From a study completed by Chicago-based Research International USA completed a study called “Fast Food Nation 2008. The panel consisted of 1,000 respondents of ages 16-65 who provided their inputs with an online survey which was conducted between March 13 through 2008. Which was based on results on fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s are gaining popularity even through the economic hardship and recession. Marketing strategy has become more of influence on kids and young American’s. As population grows and the demand increases of fast food restaurants are expanding their stores to capturing more consumers. Fast food chains are also willing to change their menus to continue to gain and retain repeating customers. With each generation that passes, brings fast food chains into more homes and continues impacting lives.
An analysis of 2013 advertising expenditures found that ?US companies spent $5.5 billion on fast-food advertisements and $6.8 billion on separate food, beverage and confectionary categories? (Henderson 191). The majority of these advertisements were focused on high-calorie and low-nutrient foods. McDonalds is generally regarded as the king of all burger chains; having brought fast food to the world and being the first company to ser...
Analysing McDonalds (fast food outlets) using Porters 5 Forces model – sometimes called the Competitive Forces model. Introduction McDonalds Canada opened in 1967, thirteen years after McDonalds had taken the United States by storm. This was the first restaurant to be opened outside of the United States. It was in 1965 that McDonalds went public and offered shares on Wall Street. Since then, it has been important for McDonalds to continually monitor its performance, to make sure it is competitive and profitable while also being aware of its immediate community responsibilities.
Burger King adds value through the good quality products served. What the customers perceives is what the customer gets and sometimes more than what the custome...
McDonald's also focuses on the perception of value within it line of products and therefore takes care to price its menu items accordingly. Different products are priced differently depending on which target audience those items appeal to most. An extensive value menu is an essential part of any fast-food menu in recent years. The prices and products within the value menu can prove to be areas that will make or break a fast-food companies' year depending on the competitions value menus.
First, my personal reaction to this is documentary is an eye opener. I knew McDonalds was more harmful to than other fast food places, but I never knew about the lawsuit between McDonalds and it consumers. I never saw McDonalds as having big impact on my life; this is probably because the McDonald’s in my hometown never had a super-size option. In the video, Spurlock conducted interviews to gain ...
However, quality is not fully valued by these points. In fact, McDonald’s operates with a consistent quality product. It can be determined by supervising the operations of any McDonalds’ restaurant. The company has certain standards of cooking dishes, if it is volume oriented and each customer impact on product is not so high, McDonalds pertains to the top-quality operation. On the other hand, McDonalds doesn’t compromise its consumers’ comprehension about quality. From the whole history of the company, it is known that this restaurant has gone through the big quantity of quality inspections in all countries, where its restaurants are located. Evidently, they have credible and verified suppliers. Moreover, McDonalds has a special Quality Assurance team that controls the quality of the product at all stages of production. (Vignali, 2001)
When researching McDonald’s through online sources, it is clear that nutrition is a major concern of the public visiting the fast-food chain. Secondary research conducted shows that there are several case studies and other secondary source searches around the same topic. McDonald’s has often been the center of nutritional attention within the fast-food industry. Secondary research shows that the restaurant has recently made changes to the American Happy Meal to reduce the amount of French fries offered and replace the portion with fruit (Strom, 2011). In a study conducted by McDonald’s a secondary source reports the meal cuts calories by 20% for the children’s meal (Strom, 2011). This is a critical move by the organization on children’s obesity is currently a hot topic within food chains and attention is driven by the Obama administration. Secondary research also shows that although the public has major health concerns with the food chain, profits are increasing during a high point of an economic recession (Dahan & Gittens, 2008). Acco...
Firstly, McDonald’s paid attention to the children in every country. They have built “happy land” for them and offered the “happy meals” with innovative toys to them. Since children is one of the biggest consumer groups to McDonald’s, and they have created a place with “happiness” culture to attract the children. It is a successful decision that building a business by focusing on the children since it can encourage the whole family to come to McDonald’s.McDonald’s is not only selling the happy meal to the children, but also selling American culture to them, it is a proper strategy to build the brand loyalty from th...
An evaluation of the restaurant’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats served as the foundation for this marketing plan. The plan focuses on the restaurants marketing strategy, suggesting ways in which it can build on new customer relationships, and development of new food products and targeted to specific customer groups.
In today’s market, McDonalds faces numerous challenges such as fierce competition, a more health conscious customer, and the continual need for improved customer satisfaction and menu. McDonalds needs to go through some changes in order to remain ahead in the fast-food industry.
McDonald’s vision statement can be said that it wants to be the world’s best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best for McDonald’s means that it needs to provide the best of the quality of food products, services, and cleanliness and value so that it can make everyone of its customer smile (Schmitt and et.al, 2011). A vision statement of the company is an idea for how business can be eventually perceived and what actions it will be taking for coming 5, 10 or 15 years for i...
Product is fairly similar to competitors – the McDonalds menu is quite similar to many of its competitors such as Burger King and Wendy’s. This forces McDonald 's to have to lower its prices in order to continue to be competitive.