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June 20, 2004

McDonalds: WHO'S Loving It, Really?

McDonald’s CMO, Larry Light's recent comments in AdAge about McDonald’s move to “Brand Journalism” have set off a large flurry of blogmentary. (Hey, if he can push a new phrase why can’t we?) Across all these comments there seem to be three basic threads: The Death of Mass Media · Buzz Machine sees that McDonalds is only now catching on to what has long been inevitable. McDonalds is just one more of the big brands to shift away from broadcast. · Pheedo agrees and sees finding these niches in blogs (look for an at least semi-official golden arches blog soon?) The validity of McDonalds' message/real value proposition · As usual Hugh Macleod of Gaping Void, cuts through a lot of this and just wonders what the heck the Brand Journalism buzzword really means. · AdRants shares this confusion, notes that this really adds up to abandoning the whole concept of a unique selling proposition and doubts whether adding hiphop music to the I'm Loving It campaign is going to make McDonalds any more relevant. · Seth Godin, as always, challenges us to think a bit deeper and look at the real value. Taking a page from Starbucks book he suggests moving the Golden Arches from just the home of the Big Mac to a real meeting place. · Robert McLaws/The Bleeding Edge agrees but kinda wonders why, if "you can get a Sausage McMuffin with Egg, hash browns and a cup of OJ for the same price as a Tall White Chocolate Mocha," that more people hanging out there. · Finally, Planet Brand, also agrees but gives Larry Light some credit for progressive thinking. Our two cents: · First, seems like diversification away from mass media, just makes sense. So here here. Just because it's inevitable doesn't mean it's not hard to do. · Second, all the buzzwords aside, the real issues all seem to center around Positioning. What the heck are their XYZs? · What's their Category X? Is it a fast food place? Or is it a meeting place? Which is more relevant, which is their strength? · Who is their Customer Y? Yuppies who want to hang out or budget conscious families? · What is their uniqueness Z? Their menu?? Their decor? Or their happy meals? Seems to me that for all the talk about trying to target, to adapt and evolve, it might make sense for them to look to and to refresh their strengths. Maybe I'm dating myself too much but I really remember the jingle "McDonald's is our kind of place." It was a great expression of thier value. Which went way beyond burgers. It was a fast, clean, affordable place for families who didn't want to cook at home. And it was so memorble that the take-offs on it were endless and fun. Maybe they should look back to that simple target, understand their wants and desires (I've got kids and they still love to go, get their happy meals and play on the indoor playground). Maybe rather than a place for business people to meet, it should be a place for parents and kids to meet. Maybe, instead of starbucks they need to study folks like Chucky Cheese and offer conference rooms, support groups, massages for parents, and the equivalent of slot machines for the kids. Just a thought.

Posted by johnza at June 20, 2004 09:51 AM

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» Branding Smackdown: Godin vs. Ries. Loser: McDonald's. from TSMI's Trade Show Marketing Report
You, fellow event marketer, have life easy. You only need to worry about one brand message. Sure, you may require tactics that converse to differing verticals to deliver that message, but it's essentially the same message: Your event = X. [Read More]

Tracked on July 28, 2004 12:54 PM

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