McDonald Brand Excel



Mc Donald’s Excel

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The Brand is Properly Propositioned:

Mc Donald’s is the world’s leading fast food retailer with a global presence. It has locations of over 35000 places and serves around seventy million customers in almost a hundred countries daily. Mc Donald’s provides a wide variety of fast food choices to their customers including burgers and also provides a breakfast menu. One of the reasons why Mc Donald’s has been so ahead of their competitors is because in every region Mc Donald’s provides a menu that takes into account the taste and needs of the people in that region. This makes their products different but still keep up with the high standards set by the company itself. Mc Donald’s positions itself differently in every market by segmenting the market, targeting the segments and positioning itself along with those segments (Domzal and Unger, 1987, pp. 23-37). Segmentation refers to dividing markets based on their similar needs and wants. Mc Donald’s segments markets on the basis of geography and demography. Geographic segmentation involves dividing markets on the basis of geographic criteria such as America, Asia, Middle East, America and etc. Based on these geographies it changes and updates its menu, which accounts for the regional taste and needs. Then comes demographic segmentation, where the main concern is age, size, socio-economic status, income and family. Mc Donald’s segments the market between children, young adults and adults. In order to attract children, they provide toys and happy meals (Park, et al, 1991, pp. 185-193). For young adults, they take into account their consumption pattern as this is the highest paying demographic of all of them. Lastly, by making their products less in calories, they are able to attract more customers from the adult demographic. After Mc Donald’s have segmented and targeted their demographics they focus on positioning themselves in the desired market. Mc Donald’s then positions itself by taking into account the buying behaviour, the likes and dislikes of their customers, how much they are willing to spend, what persuades them to buy products and how the media can be used to influence their decisions. By conducting research, segment insights and customer behaviour information Mc Donald’s creates a positioning profile and targets segments based on this profile for every product.

The Brand is Consistent

To turn any brand into a success and a recognizable figure, the two most important things required are consistency and focus. Consistency should not only be visible from the outside of a business but also in the inside workings of the business (Bengtsson, et al, 2010, pp. 519-540). These can include the restaurant itself, how the service is provided and the personnel that are providing the services. In Mc Donald's case, it has left nothing to chance and is consistent in its product quality, service delivery and its employees. Mc Donald’s focuses strongly on product quality and even after going through many controversies it has still managed to come out on top. Consistency also plays a huge part in how Mc Donald’s positions its brand globally. It is consistent and pays a lot of attention to the values and likes and dislikes of its international customers and every menu in every region is designed by taking into account all the above-listed things. They not take into account the values of their customers but are also determined to implement their values regarding food quality, cleanliness and service delivery (Andreani, et al, 2012, pp. 64-71). They also have been consistent in maintaining a balance between continuity/ growth of their business and how they market their product. They have also been able to keep themselves relevant and keep this balance. Their marketing strategy is relevant and directly focus on their target segment. They try the utmost that they consistent in their marketing such as they do not confuse their customers and do not muddle the image of the brand they have developed over such a long period of time. This was the same case with MICHELOB, who lost their customers and market share due to confusing and inconsistencies in their marketing strategies.

The Brand makes use of and coordinates a full repertoire of marketing activities to build equity

In order to create a strong brand, an organisation cannot just rely on either one or two marketing strategies. A combination of different or all of the marketing strategies is required to build a successful brand (Wood, 2000, pp. 662-669). This will help in performing well out roles that further help in building a stronger brand image. Mc Donald’s does this by embracing and engaging different cultures and societies. This helps in retaining a brand that is strong and identifiable across the world. By implementing innovation into their marketing mix and decreasing any gap such as cultural and physical that might present itself between the global audiences (Vignali, 2001, pp. 97-111). They have also deployed localized marketing strategies, for example, the name of the Mc Donald's restaurant in Japan is MAKUDONARUDO, which is written in the official katakana Japanese script used. This is all evidence of how Mc Donald's uses logos and symbols in such a marketing mix which allows it to build equity. It has also used its slogans and made them into catchy phrases such “I’m lovin it”, “Looking for the Golden Arches”, “Do you believe in Magic” and “Did somebody say Mc Donald’s”. Mc Donald’s also enhances and reinforces the awareness of its brand by its charitable endeavours as well such as the Royal Mc Donald House Charities. Another marketing activity they perform is by being open and transparent about their operations. They have developed websites where the customers are allowed to ask questions regarding their services and products and these questions are responded to. They even regularly allow customers to come on site to review the working conditions and the implementation of health and safety regulations. They have also used marketing to create special memories for their customers which are associated with Mc Donald's. Mc Donald’s executes the mix of all marketing activities flawlessly because of which it is the leader of its industry.

References

Andreani, F., Taniaji, T.L. and Puspitasari, R.N.M., 2012. The impact of the brand image on loyalty with satisfaction as a mediator in McDonald's. Jurnal Manajemen dan Kewirausahaan, 14(1), pp.64-71.

Bengtsson, A., Bardhi, F. and Venkatraman, M., 2010. How global brands travel with consumers: An examination of the relationship between brand consistency and meaning across national boundaries. International Marketing Review, 27(5), pp.519-540.

Domzal, T. and Unger, L., 1987. Emerging positioning strategies in global marketing. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 4(4), pp.23-37.

Park, C.W., Milberg, S. and Lawson, R., 1991. Evaluation of brand extensions: the role of product feature similarity and brand concept consistency. Journal of consumer research, 18(2), pp.185-193.

Vignali, C., 2001. McDonald's: "think global, act local”–the marketing mix. British food journal, 103(2), pp.97-111.

Wood, L., 2000. Brands and brand equity: definition and management. Management decision, 38(9), pp.662-669.