Branding - The Social Media Way : Part 2

In the last post on this topic, we talked about the growth of the Social Media spends by various brands as they have begun to realize the power of engaging customers through the online media. We also talked about how various firm follow different strategies for their Social Media activities. In this post, we'll talk about how McDonald's is trying to woo its customers and compete with other brands on this virtual platform.

According to Heather Oldani and Steve Wilson from Social Media Business Council, McDonald's digital strategy (for consumers and employees) has been based on four principles, which are:

1. Go to them and foster THEIR communities
2. Be multidimensional
3. Continue engagements
4. Be transparent

This thing is indicated through their Listen, Participate, Lead policy for their communications. The conversation strategy adopted for the various social media channels also varies in the Type of conversations, Primary owner and the Target audience.

Conversation strategy of McDonald's for various Social Media channels

McDonald's has executed this strategy for engaging its customers in 6 prominent ways:

• Cross promotion with Facebook Apps: The best thing (and the most successful thing) employed by McDonald's is 'The Quest' app on their Facebook page. It acts as a cross promotional tool for both Facebook and Twitter. Fans play a game on the Facebook application, unlocking various product based incentives. Fans are also encouraged to share their achievements through Twitter hashtags.  

The Quest app on McDonald's Facebook page

• Involvement through Social games: McDonald's added a virtual restaurant that fans can add to their city in the game Cityville. The rewards and bonuses for the fans depend on their ability to manage the restaurant. The popularity of the game is being leveraged by McDonald's in a fantastic manner.

• Sharing Videos: McDonald's has numerous YouTube channels on varied themes by employees and fans. These channels increase the engagement levels and enhance traffic on their other Social media channels. As McDonald's displays the actions of real people (employees and customers) there is a high likeability of fan interaction on Facebook and Twitter as well with comments, tweets and likes flowing in abundance. One such campaign asked customers to upload one's photo as part of an online game. This image was turned into a video using 3D mapping technology, in which the person was shown doing awesome football tricks. The video ended with the person kicking the trash (ball) into a McDonald's bin. Users could share this video on their Facebook profile/ page. This helped McDonald's reach a wider audience with over 1 million page impressions and 5,700 fuller bins than normal (interesting fact, but how did they measure this?).

• Expanding their Social reach: The Facebook page of McDonald's also provides a feature in which the customers can change their language to Spanish. Called 'Me Encanta', this feature has been included to target the Hispanic population in the U.S., thus providing a wider reach transcending language barriers.

McDonald's Facebook page with 'Me Encanta' tab targeted at the Hispanic population

• Personalized replies on Twitter: The team handling the McDonald's Twitter handle respond to individual questions, compliments and comments despite having close to 0.2 million followers. Interacting in a direct manner with the customers increases engagement levels.

McDonald's Twitter Page

• Involvement of Community: McDonald's has been constantly engaging its customers through competitions, polls and events. One example of this has been the use of Facebook and Twitter to promote the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). When McDonald's launched the 'Day of Change' campaign in 2010, they used the Social Media to generate awareness and engage customers. The results were impressive as the online donations increased by 130% in August 2010 compared to August 2009 and also impacted the physical donation boxes in a positive manner.  Also, the E-newsletter subscriptions grew by 748% during the campaign, thus providing a way for the charity to keep in touch with new contacts. 

RHMC Facebook Page

Thus, we have seen that McDonald's has worked actively in branding itself through the Social Media and its continued efforts will lead to higher fan interactions, leading to higher traffic at stores and eventually better returns for the brand.

Branding - The Social Media Way : Part 1

With the advent of the Social Media, marketers have come to believe that it is the 'IT' tool for reaching their target audience in the future. With over 800 million active users on Facebook and 380 million users on Twitter, the marketers believe that Social Media as a platform provides a high Return on Marketing Investment when compared with other traditional mediums.

A report by Forrester Research indicates that by 2016, Social Media spends will grow to 26% of all advertising spends. A study by Nielsen called 'State of the media: The social media report' (Q3 2011) found out that nearly 4 in 5 active internet users visit social networks and blogs. Also, 53% of active adult social networkers follow a brand. Another finding was that Social Networking apps are ranked no. 3 on the most used list for U.S. smartphone users.

Another study done by Charlene Li and Ben Elowitz (in July 2009) analyzed various brands based on their presence on different social media channels including Blogs, Branded Communities, Discussion forums and External social networks like Facebook, Twitter etc. This was followed my measuring the engagement levels of customers across these social media channels and find the engagement levels of these brands per fan. Based on their research they found that Starbucks was the best global brand in Social Media followed by Dell. These researchers also developed a framework for profiling these brands based on customer engagement and no. of channels used.

Engagement profiles of Brands

The four profiles are classified as follows:

1. Mavens: Above average engagement score. Present on seven or more channels. Robust strategy and dedicated teams for social media.
2. Butterflies: Lower than average engagement scores. Present on seven or more channels. Tend to invest in few channels while ignoring other channels (being inactive).
3. Selectives: Higher than average engagement scores. Present on six or fewer channels. Lightly staffed social media initiatives.
4. Wallflowers: Below average engagement scores. Present on six or fewer channels. Have ventured recently in this area and are testing things through a few channels.

Another thing done by these researchers was looking at the financial performance of the brands observed  in Q4 ’08, Q1 ’09, Q2 ’09 and Q3 ’09. The conclusion was that the higher the engagement of the brands were, the higher the financial performance was. Mavens were found to have sustained strong revenue and margin growth despite the economic slowdown. It was also found out that social media reach alone caused a positive impact for a brand as more touch points caused a ripple effect for the brand. The authors also suggested that deep engagement in less number of channels could also prove to be an effective and successful strategy.

Financial returns for the brands with the above profiles

 The above results are indicative and not conclusive, but this surely tells that every brand should operate with a concrete strategy and not lie in the south-west portion of the brand profile map.

According to The Virtue, McDonald's has slipped from 32 to 62 to 66 from 2008 to 2010 on the list of Top Social Brands. In the next post on this topic, we'll talk about McDonald's current engagement strategies to help it jump back to a higher stead on the Top Social Brands index.

Who is the global winner? McDonald's or Subway?

Which company can go global? Answer is simple.... whose product is global.... Fast food category is not an exception.... Where fast food is the need of whole world nowadays, players in this industry must play in different markets to survive in the competition. So, the major players like McDonald's, Subway, Domino are doing. All the giants are expanding rapidly worldwide, providing best quality product changing recipe as per country and being a best distributor.

I have got some data to point out some findings this time. Wall Street Journal reports of this year shows that at the end of last year, Subway had 33749 restaurants worldwide, whereas McDonald's had 32737. Subway believes some of its success is due to their private ownerships.They say that it enables them to focus on the product, quality, restaurants and not on the other things associated with a public company.

Subway v/s McDonald's

McDonald's is still a leader if we consider sales in terms of revenue. When asked on this, they say that they remain focussed on listening to and serving their customers and are committed to being better, not just bigger.  On the other hand, Subway is rapidly expanding its international operations and The Wall Street Journal reports that it expects its number of international restaurants to exceed its domestic ones by 2020. Subway expects one of its biggest new markets to be China where it is planning to increase from 199 restaurants to more than 500 by 2015. Subway is also known for opening outlets in non traditional locations, so McDonald's has been known to serve different customers differently.

Figures may depict any player as a winner, say in terms of outlets, or revenues or just profits. But, only thing we can say that winner will the one who will continue to win the hearts of their customers through their stomachs!!!!

Whetting the Indian Belly - Part 3

In this third and final post on the topic, we talk about the 'Place' portion of the 4Ps framework. After Indianizing their product offerings with suitable pricing and an extensive promotion strategy, fast food restaurants have enticed the Indians good enough to consume their products. But, the question remains as to how to ensure that these seemingly awed and drooling consumer base get to consume these products with ease.

McDonald's 1st store at Basant Lok, Delhi

When McDonald's opened its 1st store on a windy October the 13th in 1996, no one would have predicted that within 15 years the same brand would wind up in over 235 locations in India. This journey has been made possible due to its Joint Venture with Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. (for the Northern and Eastern Regions) and a Development License with Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. (for the Western and Southern Regions).

McDonald's 2nd store at Bandra, Mumbai

So, after opening its first store in Basant Lok, which was essentially a SBD (Secondary Business District), McDonalds opened another store in a similar location in Bandra. Thereafter, more McDonald's sprung up in SBDs and near office spaces (including the 1st drive thru at Sector 16, Noida in a Hotel which was also the 1st disabled friendly store) and eventually into Malls like Ansal Plaza, Delhi in 1999. By this way, McDonald's expanded into Tier-I cities with new outlets opening at Railway Stations (including the one at New Delhi Railway Station that operates for 24 hours a day), Airports, Metro Stations and Petrol Pumps.

McDonald's store at Kashmere Gate Metro Station, Delhi

However, this expansion was not just limited to bigger cities and McDonald's opened its outlets in  Tier-II and Tier- III citiles like Nasik, Indore, Baroda, Vapi, and Surat in the West and Dehradun, Jaipur, Agra, Patiala and Chandigarh in the North. These smaller cities have become the target markets for fast food restaurants like McDonald's who are aiming to generate larger revenues from these untapped markets with a huge population of aspirational customers. It also opened restaurants on Highways with extended operational hours and the availability of the Breakfast Menu (introduced in 2008). McDonald's also introduced Dessert Kiosks in malls which separated themselves from the traditional McDonald outlets through separate billing counters and in some case by being located in a different area in the mall.

McDonald's Dessert Kiosk

Though McDonald's was able to reach a large customer base through its outlets (dine-in customers), there was still a large number of customers who couldn't (or didn't wanted to) reach the stores. Thus, McDonald's came up with its McDelivery service in 2004 which helped it to serve the farthest corners in the big cities (where this service is available). A unique initiative was also undertaken by McDonald's  in this regard in the he crowded streets of Chandni Chowk, Delhi where they introduced bicycles for this service. This McDelivery service has since then has been expanded to the online format as well, in which customers can register on the McDonald's India website and Log-in to order their meals.

McDelivery using Bicycles at Chandni Chowk, Delhi

McDelivery option is now also available through online registration

With high growth in the fast food industry and rapid launch of new outlets by all the players, it remains to be seen how these companies expand their business in both the somewhat saturated big cities and the untapped and emerging smaller cities.

"Made For You"

Last month when I visited my home during Diwali vacation, I landed up at home very early in the morning and was feeling very hungry. I just asked my mom if I can have some 'Ghavan' (maharashtiran recipe like neer dosas) and my loving mom served me up hot 'Ghavans' just within an hour. And, It's nevertheless to say that I almost swallowed 5-6 of them in few mins. What a pleasurable experience to get food specially made for me which my mom has always been doing for me!!

When you visit any regular restaurant, you always expect to get the food specially made for you and you mostly get it there. McDonald's picked up the similar thought to offer its customers the food which is prepared right after they order it. and, that's how its successful Made for you (MFY) strategy came into the picture in fast food as well.

Made for You!!!

The Made for You strategy production process was both natural extension of McDonald's use of process automation and radial departure from the made-to-stock philosophy. The main objectives of this system were to allow for customized customer orders, improve service response time - within 90 secs and improve food quality and freshness. This is a system where your food is prepared just after you have ordered it. Once customer places order at the counter, counter person punches the order and order gets displayed on the monitor in preparation area, where crew members put the best efforts to serve the order just within 90 sec.

McDonald's dynamic staff at work

If we go little into the detailed part of this system, you can see two sided tables in the kitchen where mostly order is handled by initiator and assembler. Both of them work together to prepare order in least possible time made by cooks using highly technological efficient instruments like top loading toaster, condiment guns, UHCs and wrappers and boxes underneath. The process is so dynamic here that if you visit McDonald's MFY store, you will see all crew running and moving really fast.

To sum it up, we can say that the important factors to make this MFY system successful are service, quality, food preparation, people and profitability. During peak hours, customers sometimes don't get food within 90 sec, but freshness and consistency of food is never compromised. Customers always get the order hot and fresh. Surely they way McDonald's has streamlined its kitchen delivery model and made this MFY system as a standard in fast food industry!!! so, this is how leader differentiates itself!!!

Integrated Marketing Communications for launch of Spicy Delights by McDonalds

With the introduction of their new range of McSpicy products in India called ‘Spicy Delights’ McDonald’s has embraced technology and social networking sites in a whole new level, keeping up with the changing times.

Before the launch of the McSpicy range of McDonalds, when a customer placed an order at a McDonald's outlet, they were given visiting card-sized slips that simply read 'Coming on 28th March. French Fries' new buddy. Soft Serve's new love. Chicken Maharaja Mac's competition'.

The card carried an image of burger buns with a QR code - a specific barcode readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and smart phones - in between them instead of a patty. The QR code, which was printed across all the pre-launch merchandising elements (in-store and Out-of-Home) directed the consumer to the site www.myspicy.in microsite.

At the microsite, a rib-tickling viral called the 'The Great Spicy Speculation', in which the present items such as McVeggie, Maharaja Mac, French Fries, Mc Aloo Tikki, and Coke posed as characters and discussed the new additions in the menu on social networking sites and messenger services as if they were new joinees in an office. LinkedIn profiles were also made for the new additions, while tickets were also booked for them on a travel website.

The video ended with the message: 'The story gets spicier at www.myspicy.in'. It also routed the viewer to a page by the insecure Maharaja Mac that said 'Website not found - this site has been re-routed to www.i-love-maharaja-mac-more.com. It's much better than this. Besides it's LIVE right now'. People were also allowed to leave their contact details with McDonald's promising to inform them as soon as the new menu was out.

As part of the outdoor campaign, displays in the McDonald's outlets, hoardings, bus shelters and railway stations, carried ads of the pre-launch QR code and the reveal launch ads.

McDonald's rolled out a 10-day pre-launch campaign to build a buzz around the new menu. The company claims to have reached 2,50,000 people in a span of the ten-day pre-launch campaign and close to another 10,000 views on YouTube for the viral.

After the launch kiosks were launched at McDonald's outlets, where people could pick their option from Too Hot, Too Cool, Just Right. LED hoardings in a few locations carried Live Updates of the people's choice and their pictures, giving them their few seconds of fame.

Major AD’s were during the IPL matches. The company also tied up with a radio station where RJs went to McDonald's outlets and asked people about what they thought of the new McSpicy range - is it Too Hot, Too Cool or Just Right? The brand also reached out to students across 50 colleges in Mumbai.

In today’s world engagement is very important and it leads to conversation. It is necessary today to have a platform where people can express themselves and it is good for the brand to know what’s on their customers’ minds. Mc Donalds successfully accomplished this in its McSpicy Campaign. The campaign has created waves in the social media and is considered to be a social media tutorial.

Segmenting the right segment!!!

In one of the previous posts, we had mentioned about McDonald's franchise business model as one of its very important successful factor. But, only having right model in places does not give you sustainable leading position. Your marketing strategy has to be aligned with your model's insight. It is very important for company to understand its target customers in order to have effective marketing. If company understands its customers well, then only it can communicate with them effectively.

McDonald's is using the same strategy here. They have segmented the customers according to the bases of demographic, psycho-graphic and behavioural. They have segmented their products and positioned according to kids, students, family. They are yet to enter in adults segment specifically. The main purpose of segmenting is to classify market into smaller segments, so that we can serve specific needs of smaller segments with different service and offerings. This segmentation can be done on the basis of age, gender, lifestyle, region, etc.

In India, McDonald's uses segmentations on three different bases:

Demographic - kids, students, family

McDonald's Happy Meal includes toys for kids. It has made the outlets for students of school and colleges easy to hang out with friends. It has also made some different outlets specially for families.

Psycho-graphic - convenience and lifestyle

McDonald's has been very adaptive to cater to the needs of Indian customers. In India, larger population is vegetarian. So, McDonald's came up with products like Mc Veggie burger or Mc aloo tikki to serve the Indian customers.

Behavioural - occasions

McDonald's provides special offerings on birthdays by organizing parties at the outlets. It advises customers to go for the offers to get discounts which in turn change their buying behaviour.

So, in all, McDonald's has been pretty successful in segmenting the market effectively. There is much more scope for them to enter into different segments like adults, professional which they need to work on to enlarge their customer base. But, how much to segment also remains the important question. Only thing which needs to be kept in mind that 'You can't be all things to all people'!!!

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

Franchise strategy that worked well for McDonald's!!

In this competitive world, any organization needs to have right strategy first. The strategy should be aligned with the vision and mission of the organization, so that all the elements within the organization can direct their effort towards the same goal. Fast food industry being very competitive, all the companies need to have right strategies in place.

The popular strategy which worked for McDonald's and many other fast foot chains is Franchise system. One of the key reasons why McDonald's could expand worldwide so fast and achieve brand recognition globally is its very efficient Franchise Business model. This model has not only helped McDonald's to expand domestically as well as internationally, but it has also standardized its operation at all places. This has made them to provide same products and same experience to all its customers - no matter which part of the world they are. 

McDonald's Franchise outlet

Today, McDonald's franchise network has reached in more than 100 countries serving 52 million people with more than 30000 franchise restaurants. This had made McDonald's as world's leading food service retailer. 70 percent of the total stores are  owned by independent franchisees. 

McDonald's franchise model has been such a success that if someone thinks of buying any franchise, then McDonald's is the first name to be considered. What differentiates McDonald's franchise model from its competitors is strategy to allow its franchisees to pay just rent rather than buy their premises outright. So, buying its franchise offers a profitable option to have business with many advantages like recession free business, cheap product, non discretionary good, quick food meeting time constraints of customers.

We started this post saying that organization need right strategy to succeed. After analysing McDonald's franchise model, can we say it's right strategy for it? Is it the only strategy that worked for McDonald's? Are there any other factors which complimented this business model?

Keep checking blog for more details...

Product Placement by Fast Food Restaurants

Whether it is Shahrukh Khan driving a Volkswagen New Beetle in Ra. One or Hrithik Roshan guzzling Mountain Dew in ZNMD or Kareena Kapoor walking with a Sony Vaio in tow in Bodyguard, product placement is the new ‘IT’ thing in Bollywood. Product placement means the prominent display of a brand in a movie (or even TV shows) where the characters use the product (Big bucks required for this!!) or there is a fleeting/ flashing display (Lesser money) of the brand in the background. This phenomenon has there been for quite a long time in Hollywood with successful associations with brands like Apple, Ford and Coca-Cola which feature in about two dozen blockbusters (above $100 million grosser) every year.

Kareena Kapoor with a Sony Vaio in Bodyguard (2011)

 

So, how does product placement work out for Fast Food restaurant brands? The movie studios approach a potential brand for a tie-up based on the script requirements or opportunity of product placement (to cover the production budgets). Sometimes brand associations are already present (as in the case of sequels or TV/Book adaptations) and such a relationship is continued for higher brand leverage and stronger recall. 

Dunkin' Donuts featuring in Source Code (2011)

However, there are a few challenges that are present. The biggest challenge that such brands face is the ‘Use’ part of the product in the movie. It is practically impossible for the makers of the movie to feature a 60 second sequence in which a character ‘primarily’ eats a burger or a pizza (while sipping a Diet Soda) without making the audiences get bored or miffed or both. Thus, the product placement needs to be cleverly done so that it fits in perfectly into the script and defines ‘a way of life’ for the character indicating his/her preference of the brand. This challenge is quite often overcome by filming a scene alongside a restaurant sign-board or showing the product packaging (pizza boxes etc.) among other techniques.

Pizza Hut featuring in The Invention Of Lying (2009)

Another challenge is identifying with the target audience of the brand with the character that is seen consuming the product. For example, when Dunkin’ Donuts made an appearance in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps alongside the character of Jacob Moore (Shia LaBeouf as a proprietary trader); it displayed the life of a young workaholic who elicits a certain kind of lifestyle, consuming products of a known fast food brand due to the trust factor (regarding the quality of the product) as well as the time factor (paucity of time due to hectic work life).

Dunkin' Donuts featuring in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) depicting the lifestyle of the character.

Similarly, Pizza Hut had a tie up in the movie Wayne’s World where the central character Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers as a TV show host) is prominently seen with the brand; the character displaying a laid back attitude and life of a young man.

Pizza Hut featuring in Wayne's World (1992) depicting the life of a carefree TV host     

The children are however, difficult to target in a direct manner due to legislative restrictions; and promotional tie-ins with brands are the way to do it. McDonald's for instance tied up with DreamWorks Animation's Shrek franchise by including its toys in its Happy Meals and also introducing a Guava-Mint flavoured dessert.

McDonald's Guava-Mint flavoured Dessert as a part of its tie-in with Shrek Forever After (2010)

But, both the studios as well as the fast food brands need to be cautious about the side-effects of such a tie-in, as was the case when McDonald’s had to recall 12 million glasses sold as promotional tie-in with the movie Shrek Forever After contained the toxic metal cadmium leading to a fall in share price by 1.7% for McDonald’s. Thus, before agreeing on a tie-in/ product placement with a given movie; the fast food brand should evaluate the theme of the scene in which the product will be displayed along with the overall target audience for the movie.

McDonald's Shrek glasses had to be recalled after the toxic metal Cadmium was found in them

The product placement phenomenon has become an extensive part of the TV shows and sitcoms, so much so that the TV presenters of the morning news of KVVU have McDonald’s Ice Coffee on their desks, even though they rarely touch the logo-covered cups. So, product placement is here to stay; but the job of the brand managers is to effectively reach out to their target audiences through these tie-ins. 

KVVU's Morning News presenter have Ice Coffee from McDonald's placed in front of their desks

Does McD have a Logo story?

The need for developing a prominent trademark has always been a first priority of every company. After all, it represents the brand of the company. The logo of any company conveys the common message, values to the whole world in an unique way. It assures the customers that all products have a specific trademark and are of same quality throughout the world. And, this is very important when company wants to expand globally. 

The Mcdonald's logo was created by Jim Schindler in 1962 and the idea was first introduced by Dick and Mac Mcdonald as arch shaped signs on the sides of their then 'walk-up hamburger stand'. From an angle, these arches look like letter 'M', and thus it was incorporated in the McDonald's logo as merger of two golden arches together. The " Mcdonald's " name was added in the logo in 1968. Though the physical arches have been disappeared from all the restaurants' building designs, the golden arches have remained in the logo and have branded the company.

The McDonald's logo reflects the meaning intended by the company. It also encompasses the durable characteristics of the food chain. The golden and red colour used in the logo represents the characteristics like boldness, power and strength. This communicates the value proposition of the company as well.

Brand Messaging on Packaging

Brand’s history can be studied by looking through the evolution of its advertising and packaging. Here we provide a set of images dedicated to one of the biggest global brands McDonalds.

McDonald's - The Big Daddy of Fast Food Restaurants

Do you know that McDonald's operates in 123 countries across the globe, has more than 30,000 outlets and represents 43% of the U.S. fast food market???
This phenomenon which started as "The Airdrome"in 1937, has taken global precedence over the minds of the people. So much so that it has been scientifically proven that many children can recognize McDonald's even before they even speak.

So what has gone behind making McDonald's one of the most successful brands in the world with an estimated value of the Brand being $ 35.59 billion?
There have been many factors contributing to its success right from being one of the first fast food chains to employ the standardization process for its products to opening up a Hamburger university giving graduates a degree in Hamburgeology (innovative eh?). However, the biggest reason for its success has been the company's skillful marketing and flexible response to customer demands including pricing strategy and new product launches including having Braille and picture menus. McDonald's has also bring strong brand relations through Ronald McDonald (its mascot), the Golden Arches (its symbol), the Big Mac (one of its top selling burgers) amongst others. These along with the brand associations created in the minds of its customers through its marketing programs have made 'quality', 'cleanliness' and 'value' synonymous with the brand. The brand has also become a global symbol of the 'American way of life'.

With new innovations and massive expansion plans (specifically in developing nations), McDonald's looks like driving the growth, popularity and penetration of the organized fast food restaurants.