McDonald's

By-Sachin Pratap SinghMBA3 (1357)

A Short Introduction Of The Brand

▪ The McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants.

▪ The company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald's

▪ A McDonald's restaurant is operated by either a franchisee, an affiliate .

▪ McDonald's Corporation had annual revenues of $27.5 billion, and profits of $5.5 billion.

▪ In response to changing consumer tastes, the company has expanded its menu.

▪ McDonald's NFC Powered Happy Table  is the first of its kind , targeting families with NFC enabled smartphones to create unique interactive worlds for kids to play with in store

▪ The Happy Table is currently only available in Yishun, Singapore. While the project will be removed soon, McDonalds states that it intends to launch The Happy Table throughout the region eventually.

The

Situation Analysis

Competitive Analysis

▪ All over the world, kids love McDonald’s because there are playgrounds that they can play in. This is not the case in Singapore, where real estate is scarce and very expensive.

▪ Kids will no longer have to feel fidgety while eating their Happy Meals, they can play on the Happy Tables as they wish.

▪ So why not use something that is already in the restaurants? This is a very good example of using near-field communication to make ordinary things extraordinary.

Economical & Legal Analysis

In the best tradition of cheap, hacked-together projects, the Happy Table actually works very well. It is cheap on the hardware side—all that's required for the restaurant is a few dollars' worth of NFC tags that don't contain any proprietary information. On the software side, there's an app to write that can detect those tags and also entertain the kids, and that can't look cheap or hacked together. But once it's written, the cost of rolling it out widely is very low. That's what McDonald's plans to do next, all over Asia.

Industry Analysis

▪ McDonald’s concept of Happy Meals. They extended this thought to their ‘Happy Table’ marketing strategy. The ‘Happy Table’ game, designed in partnership with the ad agency DDB, uses a mix of NFC (Near Field Communication) and Scaletrix design technology in Singapore’s Yinshun branch.

Consumer Behavior Analysis

McDonald’s has launched the Happy Table, an NFC-enabled table that aims to drive mobile engagement inside the restaurant. Kids can hold their phones over the table to play a game on the surface, keeping them occupied and entertained during their visit. You can pair a mobile phone with the table by simply tapping it. One of the games on offer requires you to move the phone along the surface to make a car and road appear on the screen.

Objective Of The Campaign

Connecting with Kids :-

Using latest technology such as interactive games helped McDonald’s connect with kids in a way they really like and understand creating strong word of mouth publicity.

Creating traffic and engagement :-

This marketing strategy helped increase foot traffic, persuaded people to stay in the store longer and also led to more frequent visits – the ultimate aim of engagement marketing. The longer people stayed in the store, the better the chances for more upsells.

Objective Of The Campaign

Statement of Intent :-

The program sent out a strong statement to parents that McDonald’s would do what it takes to offer an entertaining experience for kids.

Contemporary Image:-

It’s easy for a 73 year old brand to look fuddy-duddy but this promotion showed that McDonald’s is with the times and will use modern technology to be relevant to this generation of tech friendly kids.

Strategy and execution▪ The program was in line with McDonald’s

strategy of ‘make the kids happy and the parents will bring them

▪ It catered to a strong need of children – to always play or be engaged in fun activity.

▪ It was a subtle approach. ‘Happy Table’ quietly enticed kids to spend more time in the McDonald’s store.

▪ It was a subtle approach. ‘Happy Table’ quietly enticed kids to spend more time in the McDonald’s store.

▪ Using latest technology such as interactive games helped McDonald’s connect with kids in a way they really like and understand creating strong word of mouth publicity.

• The program sent out a strong statement to parents that McDonald’s would do what it takes to offer an entertaining experience for kids.

• t’s easy for a 73 year old brand to look fuddy-duddy but this promotion showed that McDonald’s is with the times and will use modern technology to be relevant to this generation of tech friendly kids.

 Results

• The game is targeted at kids to encourage them to stay longer at McDonald’s stores. Kids can borrow their parents’ NFC phones and play while waiting for them to finish eating.

• The campaign, which ran in July and August, received positive results according to Daniel Lee, Director of Digital Projects for APAC/ Middle East/ Africa region.

•  The campaign has ended, but McDonald’s Singapore is planning to roll it out in Singapore, Japan and other Asian markets eventually

• The game encourages consumers to stay longer at the store. An increase in time spent inside a store could mean an increase in revenues for McDonald’s.

Learning and Conclusion

However, the slow uptake of NFC did not deter McDonald’s from experimenting with it. The Happy Table campaign speaks to McDonald’s efforts of constantly incorporating emerging trends into their daily initiatives. Some campaigns such as the “Happy Table” campaign are successful while some are not. In the long term, however, McDonald’s bold mobile initiatives help McDonald’s stay ahead of the competition.