Whetting the Indian Belly

There’s an old proverb that ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’. The case for Indian men is no different, but with the increasing decline in their attention span due to the clutter of information (in the form of sights and sounds predominantly); other human senses (smell, taste and touch respectively) have started to become indifferent after sitting on the bench for longer durations during the day. Thus, the wise old marketer decided to communicate via the former senses about a product primarily meant for the latter senses. Ironical but true.

Latest campaign: Har chhoti khushi ka celebration

Fast Food Restaurant brands coming from the land across the Atlantic dwelled over the strategy that was needed for them to succeed in tapping this vast market. One major aspect of this strategy was to position their brands properly, establishing a distinct value proposition in the minds of Indians through their communication efforts. So, when McDonald’s started its operation in India, it first started familiarizing customers by introducing locally developed products including the McAloo Tikki burger and Veg. Pizza McPuff and using experiential marketing techniques by focusing on functional benefits. Thus, came up the campaign 'McDonald’s mein hai kuch baat' (http://goo.gl/okBLi) which had a mystical feel to the brand and invited the people to come and try their products.

The Happy Price Menu campaign: What your bahana is?

 

As the brand familiarity and popularity grew, it was now time for McDonald’s to expand on its base. While introducing its Happy Price Menu (similar to Dollar Menu in U.S.A) the company promoted the value proposition for its new range of products. Campaigns like ‘What your bahaana is?’, ‘Bees mein full dhamaal’ (http://goo.gl/WsWsv) and ‘Baap ke zamane ke daam’ (http://goo.gl/si6vR) followed. For its core menu however, it used various campaigns including ‘Toh aaj McDonald’s ho jaaye’ (http://goo.gl/aOBLn) which talked about the everyday experience, encouraging its customers to visit often with friends and family and enjoy their time out. This was followed by the ‘I’m lovin it’ (http://goo.gl/gMGsk) campaign which was a global campaign employed in 118 countries (with literal translations being used in some regions). This use of a single campaign around the world reiterated the consistency and service quality offered by McDonald’s.

The International campaign: i'm lovin' it

Now, McDonald’s has started targeting the upmarket segments (higher income groups) with its McSpicy range of offerings while continuing with its Happy Price Menu with the ‘Har chhoti khushi ka celebration’ campaign. Thus, McDonald’s has realized that with the growth it has achieved in the past 15 years in India can be taken forward by communication targeted at the right segments.

Storyboards courtesy: afaqs.com