My colleague, Anton Emmanuel, recently wrote about his thoughts on Mcdonald’s new marketing strategy.  

Fastfood incumbents such as McDonald’s Corporation have been struggling to compete with the growing popularity of ‘fast casual’ restaurants that offer convenient, affordable and sustainability produced food. In response to their declining revenues, McDonald’s has devoted $1 billion USD into completely redesigning their brand image and to change public perception of the company. 

Shiny new kiosks that allow customers to customize their orders with  gourmet ingredients, table service instead of the original counter service, and a revamped menu including the first vegetarian options in over a decade are just some of the changes that have been implemented. 

In my opinion, this venture will not be successful. Dismantling the iconic brand image that took decades to cultivate simply to attempt to chase a trend is foolish. In one of our lectures, Ann told us that successful managers are ones that understand the business that they are in and know the wants of their target customer segment. McDonald’s loyal consumers simply want the cheap and fast food they are used to and they are not looking for another fast casual restaurant. Radically changing their value proposition will confuse their customers and will not give McDonald’s the returns they are expecting.

References:

“McDonald’s Rebrand: Brilliant Strategy or Foolish Failure?” Caledon Virtual. 18 May 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2015. <http://www.caledonvirtual.com/mcdonalds-rebrand-brilliant-strategy-or-foolish-failure/>.

http://www.smarteranalyst.com/2015/04/21/will-chipotle-mexican-grill-inc-continue-dominating-the-fast-casual-segment-cmg/

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2011-05-06-mcdonalds-revamp_n.htm