McDonalds and its innovative strategies -Prashant Khuller Mc Donalds "Im Lovin It!

tagline is a personal favorite and has been running since 2003. McD as it is called at least in India recently launched a new product on the 1st of August, 2012 the McEgg, an addition to the Happy Price menu after approximately 8 years [1] . They stick to things that work for them. Amazing to taste, good looking and soft were the three adjectives that came into my mind as soon as I had it for the first time. According to the site : The burger consists of steamed and poached eggs coupled with a mild sprinkling of exquisite aromatic spices, herbs, crunchy onions and 100% vegetarian sauce. Let me take you how I had my first McEgg. I had been seeing their online advertisements for some time now and had noticed a comprehensive OOH campaign running in the city (about which I will be talking later) and was passing through the Shipra Mall in Indirapuram when my nephew demanded a McSwirl. His cute little smile made me get two softies as they are colloquially called - I do not how the name of softies stuck but the only plausible explanation that I could come up with is - due to them being soft serves somebody had aptly nicknamed as a softie. Coming back to the story, we got a promotional leaflet which stated in bold letters the Sab Lucky offer. The program is valid from 10th Nov 2012 to 9th Dec 2012, throughout McDonalds outlets in Northern and Eastern India. The coupon was divided into two parts. The first part was for the redemption of the Instant Prize which got one a free food or beverage item on the menu of the outlet, and the second part for a lucky draw which demanded one to send the coupon code to a designated number by an SMS to 54242 [2] Effectively, the holder of the coupon got to avail the offer of getting something free of cost worth Rs 25 by purchasing McDonalds products of the value of Rs. 15/- and/or above. Having heard a lot about the McEgg and having seen their posters across town, giving it a shot was the least I could have done. Hence out came 25 bucks for a Veg Pizza McPuff, a favorite and the obvious freebie ordered along with it - was the McEgg. The point I want all readers to specifically focus upon is the synchronization with which different elements of the McD marketing function work together social media and the OOH campaign made people aware of the newly launched product, instant coupons made buying the new product very cheap and availability was fostered by huge in house advertisements of the McEgg. McD had already given the Indian populace a taste of their egg preparation with their breakfast menu with the egg and cheese McMuffin. This promotional slip gave the potential customer the final push to try something new. Dishing out twenty-nine rupees (after including the tax) for goods worth fifty-eight by automatically calculating the marginal utility of the offer, any rational customer understands the worth of the offer.

When the manager of the said outlet was questioned about the effect this offer had on sales, his reply aptly confirmed the understanding of the author. Going by North Indian virtues, people eat more of Egg based dished in winter than in the summers as the Egg is considered a Garam ingredient in any dish. A launch in August gave the product enough time to sink into their consumers minds and taste preferences before the heavy summers of India. A clear understanding of customer value helps McD do what it does .There are three main objectives of advertising for McDonalds are to make people aware of an item, feel positive about it and remember it. The right message has to be communicated to the right audience through the right media [3]. In an age in which TVCs and campaigns are sometimes designed such that people sometimes go back home thinking of how good the TVC was while forgetting the product being advertised, the synchronized efforts of McDonalds and its team hit the gold pot. The promotional activities: Social media: A few teasers were seen on McDonalds Facebook and YouTube pages before the launch of the product. The page was quite active in promoting the new product and small daily campaigns ranging from bad egg jokes to pulling your friends leg, to making funny pictures of their pictures, even to giving them a complete makeover and sharing all such activities with your friends where run regularly. A fun application was well received on the Facebook page wherein fans created new looks for friends and won McEggs in return (in cities the contest was valid in). A specifically designed microsite was made to introduce the McEgg which was linked directly on the main page of the McDonalds India site once the castor clicked on Try something new. The microsite has a series of engaging features like Win a free burger, Break an egg, Know my story and Download ringtones. OOH campaign The 360 degree campaign comprised varied media vehicles for its communications. Outdoor was one of the important vehicles among their media mix. The out of home campaign that rolled out on 14th August was spread across 350 touch points & covered over 1,32,000 sqft of vinyl in 9 cities[4]. The media mix was spread across mass media touch points varying from billboards, bus shelters, gantries, unipoles & kiosks to branding at railway stations. The creatives were placed in a unique manner inside bus queue shelters to highlight the freshness of the eggs used in the burger. Three different creatives were used for the purpose. While one featured the image of an unbroken egg with a message 'Only 1 out of three eggs chosen', the second creative showcased an egg yolk and said 'Freshly prepared'; the third creative displayed the egg placed in a container

to be steamed, with a message that read 'Steamed'. The three creatives told the whole story of how the McEgg Burger is prepared with fresh eggs[5].

Overall, the fresh, exciting and innovative product McDonalds has come up with and the way it was promoted has most probably made a campaign to remember in the Indian context and a dent to out McDonalds memories

References:

1. http://www.mcdonaldsindia.com/pdf/news/McEgg_Coverage_Documen t.pdf 2. http://www.mcdonaldsindia.net/files/SUB_LUCKY_PROMOTION_TERMS _AND_CONDITIONS.pdf 3. http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/content/dam/McDonaldsUK/People/Sch ools-and-students/mcd_marketing.pdf 4. http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/food/20120831129540.ht m 5. http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/35207_McDonalds-eggcitesthrough-OOH

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