4. Brand Representation: McDonalds

McDonald's is one of the most successful and widely recognised brands in the world, with over 35,000 stores in over 100 countries (Bailey, 2015). Forbes magazine believes that there are 7 crucial components to developing a successful brand, some of these include audience knowledge, uniqueness, innovation, exposure and consistency (Frobes.com, 2016). McDonald's ticks all of these boxes therefore making it the number 1 most valuable restaurant brand on the planet (Forbes.com, 2016).

USP

It is extremely important when starting a business to have a unique selling point (USP) to help stand out from the competition. McDonald's unique selling proposition was fast food, low prices, consistency and cleanliness (Entrepreneur, 2016). This is something that has remained consistent over the years and has contributed to its brands success.

Audience Knowledge

To be successful in business it is extremely important to understand your audience. This is something McDonald's does incredibly well. McDonald's target audience is incredibly wide, ranging from families, to children to business men and workers. McDonald's invests a huge amount of money in market research in order to understand what their customers want. For example, in 2014 McDonald's introduced value priced meals i.e. the 99p menu and saver menu of the back of its success from the Happy Meal. McDonald's also began to offer fruit and other healthy items for kids to help raise awareness of nutritional needs. This also appealed to parents who were the ones making the decision as to what their child eats (What makes McDonald's, 2016). McDonald's also introduced McCafe and sit in free WiFi, due to the popularity of businesses like Starbucks and other coffee chains, where it became on trend for customers to work from their laptops in store. This technique of understanding the customers needs and adapting to what’s currently on trend to fit with their brand is what makes McDonald's so successful.

Exposure & Advertising

In addition to this, McDonald's ad campaigns are incredibly diverse. In business this is referred to as ‘diversity marketing’. Diversity marketing acknowledges that marketing and advertising must offer alternative ways of communicating with diverse groups. Customers in different cultures have different values, experiences, expectations and ways of interacting (Marketing-schools.org, 2012). McDonald's demonstrate this in their adverts by featuring people of different race, age, gender and sexuality in all sorts of different situations. This is something that dates back to the 1970’s as you can see in this advert.

The overall and obvious benefit of diversity marketing is that your brand will reach and appeal to all audiences. This is something that McDonald's definitely does. Establishing this marketing strategy early on ahead of its competitors, is most likely the main reason for their global success.

Heaton (2014) believes that McDonald's is more successful than its competitors (Burger King and KFC), because they sell an ‘experience’ as appose to other fast food restaurants merely selling ‘products’. Heaton argues that McDonald's sells this experience to children through anticipation of a prize with there meal, fun shared family trips to the restaurant followed by fun in the playground after dinner. An emotional bond with the brand is formed at a young age, making it difficult to break once you are grown up. The theory, that McDonald's are trying to establish an emotional connection with their customers is also suggested through their advertising.

The first advert shows a family with a young boy being reprimanded for running and being overexcited in various places, until he gets to McDonald's. The second of a single dad trying not to wake his infant child in the back seat, with the McDonald's staff helping him out. The third of a business man on his first day at work which seems stressful, until he finally finishes and goes to McDonald's. Each of these adverts tell a story, which is about much more than just the food. These stories are relatable to audiences in some way or another which evoke an emotional connection. If we can somehow relate to these characters and feel sorry for them, we form an emotional bond. At the end of each story, the solution is McDonald's. McDonald's is presented as a savior during these ‘tough times’ almost like a familiar friend. This ultimately ties in with their brand of consistency and reliability, supporting Heaton's (2014) theory.

Innovation & Consistency

One of McDonald's USP is that the food is consistent, no matter where you go in the world a Big Mac will always taste like a Big Mac. However, the globalization of McDonald's has meant embracing and engaging with different cultures (Howard, 2014). In Italy McDonald's include fresh salad bars, seafood options in Japan and different spice variants in India (Telfer, 2012). McDonald's has adapted its menu to suit the needs of the demographic while at the same time retaining its strong identifiable brand. Although the items may be different the packaging, colour scheme, décor of restaurant and even the coffee stirrers remain the same, to reinforce the brand. Telfer (2014) believes that this consistency and strong attention to detail on such a mammoth scale enables McDonald's to experiment and innovate without diluting or putting their brand values at risk.

No one wants to deal with a company they can’t rely on, when a consumer revisit a business for repeat sales, they usually expect to receive the same level of quality as they did the first time (Forbes.com, 2016). This could not be more true upon examining the restaurant industry. McDonald's ability to deliver this level of consistency around the world, whilst at the same time forming an emotional bond and providing an almost familiar safe haven to its customers, is the secret to the brand success.

References

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What makes McDonald's, (2016). Who is your target market / audience?. [online] Available at: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/whatmakesmcdonalds/questions/running-the-business/business-strategy/who-is-your-target-market-audience.html [Accessed 26 Feb. 2016].