McDonald's Latest Marketing Moves

McDonald's has been getting customers more involved in its marketing efforts and simultaneously making more info available via app, social media, and more. This makes good business sense in today's competitive marketplace--especially since McD's has been trying to boost sales at existing stores, which have been stagnant lately.

Here's a quick look at what's cooking around the world:

• McDonald's Australia released an app that shows customers, with a quick scan of a food container's QR code, where the beef or chicken is from--supply-chain transparency. It has also been posting YouTube videos of customers (selected from among its FB fans) reviewing specific menu items--kind of the vid equivalent of posting product ratings, if you will.
• McDonald's US has a new "After Midnight" menu in selected 24-hour stores, with both dinner and breakfast choices (see left). Still no breakfast available around the clock, but this does expand breakfast to the wee hours of the morning. The new Egg White Delight breakfast sandwich is getting a big ad push to demonstrate that McDonald's does offer healthy eating options.
• McDonald's UK is reassuring customers about the high quality of its 100% beef burgers, following a horsemeat scandal that did NOT involve McD's but raised questions in the minds of UK burger lovers. Follow-up research showed a high level of interest among customers in eating ethically-sourced foods, so McD's UK is now promoting its quality pork from Freedom Farm sources. In other words, there's more transparency about supply-chain sources.
• McDonald's China is trying to gain market share by introducing rice-based dishes it believes will appeal to local tastes. So far, however, reviews aren't very encouraging.
• One major McDonald's India franchise owner has already raised prices once in 2013 as new taxes and inflation increase costs, with a second increase possible soon. The company's "Pakka Indian" (absolutely Indian) burger, just introduced, is backed by a multimedia campaign including TV, radio, print, outdoor, and online ads.
• McDonald's Canada has addressed transparency by posting YouTube videos that answer customers' questions by taking viewers behind the scenes into kitchens and operations. "Canadians were talking about our brand perhaps not in a factual manner and we wanted to get into that [social] space and leverage the social environment with our facts and our story and change those perceptions that Canadians have about our brand," explains the senior national marketing manager. No wonder the company won Marketing magazine's Marketer of the Year 2012 award.