angus.todd

Several years ago McDonald’s introduced coffee to their restaurants hoping to attract customers from competitors with low prices. The product was branded as an alternative to other pricy and somewhat pretentious cafes with adverts like the McDonald’s Unsnobby Coffee TV ad:

In October of this year McDonald’s made public the decision to build on the McCafe line and bring specialty coffees to Canada. To help the product gain valuable market share, McDonald’s undertook an aggressive marketing campaign, part of which includes a billion dollar modernization of store interiors, and the giving away of free coffee (over 60 million cups to date) so customers could experience the product’s quality. McDonald’s campaign was countered by Starbuck’s campaign that focused on quality over cost: 

Starbuck’s marketing campaign seems to have little effect on the consumers as it seems that McDonald’s launched their product at the perfect time. Although Starbucks may control a large segment of the market, with the recent economic downturn many people are looking to save money in any place they can so welcome the change to less expensive coffee, giving McDonald’s new products a competitive edge.