We’re lovin’ it: the branding turnaround of McDonald’s

About two years ago, I was in a meeting with a very wise lady called Chloe Salmon, who worked with us for a short time in our Consumer research team. We were talking about models of behaviour change and how we could adapt them into our research methodologies.

One of the things that we discussed was the ‘three things’ rule. The theory involves people altering their behaviour in response to specific changes being demonstrated by an organisation or brand. In other words - choose a brand that you wouldn’t ordinarily go anywhere near, and then think of three things it would have to do in order to get you to change your mind.

To explain what she meant Chloe pointed to the McDonald’s across the street from the FreshMinds office. It had recently been refurbished with big comfy seats and a pretty decent looking exterior. “McDonald’s are trying to change your mind about them” she said. And she was right. McDonald’s had also started serving food that wasn’t chips or burgers, and was running its supply chain with re-used oil from its cookers. The brand was dragging itself into the 21st Century.

These changes may not seem substantial compared with whiter than white 21st Century brands like Innocent or Green & Blacks, or even on a level pegging with the huge advances in food taste in the UK. But that’s if you forget what McDonald’s was like at the turn of the century. It had destroyed its brand through over-expansion and being unable to keep its restaurants looking good. Its food’s reputation had been savaged by the book Fast Food Nation and the film Super Size Me had caused the middle classes to largely desert it. In Holborn, McDonald’s has held on next to a fresh fruit smoothie bar, Itsu, Eat, Pret A Manger and all of the major coffee shops.

I think that the new McDonald’s advert is marketing genius. In the course of its 60 seconds it shows, through the medium of Northern poetry, all of McDonald’s new target customer segments. But it’s not only an example of how customer segmentation can be used to attract the right people back to a brand. Given where it’s come from, for McDonald’s to be openly courting young professionals in shirts with cufflinks, wi-fi users, and ‘frothy coffee drinkers’ alongside families, labourers and goths is an impressive display of bringing a brand back from the brink.

And me? Well, I’m still not much of a fan of the food. But if McDonald’s had put this advert out 5 years ago it simply wouldn’t have rung true. Now, I must admit, my mind is changed.

Read more here

• Badvertising - McDonald’s, Coming Back for a Big Mac
• A Touch of the Poet in McD’s New UK Ad Campaign
• That McDonald’s poem

About the author

Jake Griffiths heads up the FreshMinds Healthcare research team, as well as being a consultant to our Public Sector Practice. Jake has been with FreshMinds since 2003, and previously worked at the FTSE 100 firm BHP Billiton and the accountancy Baker Tilly in research and information roles. Outside of his passion for research, Jake spends his free time looking after his young twins and wondering when Norwich City will return to their rightful place in the Premier League.