McDonalds, the largest chain of fast food restaurants with its distinguished golden arch situated in a total of 119 countries, serving up to 64 million people around the globe daily. Adding onto Ramona Chung’s post on how this corporate franchise is as successful as it is, I find there’s more to it than its appeal to children and sponsorship for the Olympics (though those are undoubtedly factors that contribute to the success of McDonald’s).
Observing from McDonald’s ad campaigns, it is evident that the corporation segments it markets and caters their marketing to each one differently. What I can draw from their ads, they have four general segments: Children (demographic), adults (demographic), athletes/healthy lifestyle (psychographic), and regional (geographic).
McDonald’s definitely has a strong market hold for younger kids with the novel Happy Meals and the toys that come with it, along with the in restaurant Play Places; its hard to find a child that doesn’t enjoy the McDonald’s experience. I know for me, as a kid, going to McDonald’s was always an exciting treat. Here’s an example of a Japanese McDonald’s commercial for kids in which the ad emphasizes the enthusiasm and excitement attributed to McDonald’s (it’s one of my favourites!)
Then there are the adults for which McDonald’s gears its ads to highlight the availability and convenience it offers.
An example of this is one that parents of new born babies can appreciate. In this case, McDonalds its really getting at identifying and fulfilling the needs of consumers.
And finally with McDonald’s prominent affiliation with the Olympics, there are (seemingly) health conscious food alternatives (offering new products such as at the McGrill and various types of salads) and ad campaigns for the active lifestyle group. When their ads feature world class athletes, consumer behaviour is effected through the social factor in which these endorsors become opinion leaders within their reference groups.
An additional segment I noticed with McDonald’s is its demographic focus. With locations all over the world, the corporation is placing themselves within hundreds of different cultures and the regular hamburger and fries that thrives in North American won’t necessarily fit the tastes for people in places such as India or Egypt. Thus, they strategically of localize products and promote them in order to effectively fit the needs of these different regions. For instance, in Singapore, a popular menu item is the McRice where burger buns are replaced for fried rice patties and in India, they offer the McCurry Pan.
Evidently, this powerhouse has gained its credit and success largely through its marketing and ability to effectively segment and target their desired markets and position themselves as the leading fast food restaurant in the industry.
Sources:
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/etc/medialib/aboutMcDonalds/investor_relations3.Par.56096.File.dat/2010%20Annual%20Report%20(print).pdf