When it comes to marketing, McDonald’s Supreme rules. From its catchy Jingle to his famous golden arches to iconic characters and mascot, the burger chain contains many branded elements that pass the test of the time.
But what is the secret ingredient to McDonald’s continued marketing success? Nathaniel Gaynor, director of fire, content and cultural marketing Anna Engel and brand marketing manager Nathaniel Gaynor, both say that the secret sauce lies in his fan-control strategy.
The following should be received by marketers from McDonald’s unique strategy.
4 reasons McDonalds Marketing is iconic
1. It sees the meaning of Gen Z.
It is no secret that Gen Z A has much the purchasing power. In fact, Zoomer has a purchasing power of 860 billion US dollars and will probably reach 12 trillion dollars by 2030. However, the spending of Gen Z are not the only reason why McDonald’s has an entire team that is devoted to the icing.
“McDonald’s as a brand knows how important it is to build long -term relationships with our fans,” says Engel. “If we build up the basic relationships with gen z early, we can continue to build on this relationship so that they become fans for life.”
Engel also says that McDonald’s besties wants to be with gen z because Zoomer drives culture.
She explains: “Our ambition is to continue to be out there. Since gen z drives this culture, they set the tone what brands should consider. So it is really important that we are part of these considerations specified for you. “
In other words, McDonald’s sees that Gen ZS makes it not only in their ability to spend, but also to influence their ability. Imagine Z as the popular child in the high school, which can increase the status of a classmate by sitting with them in the cafeteria.
2. The company uses fantred knowledge to advance campaigns.
McDonalds is proud to know his audience from the inside and outside, from habits to rituals to subcultures.
Sure, that should be standard for every brand, but my jaw dropped when I discovered McDonald’s unique and personal way of getting into the heads of his fans.
Have you ever heard of Fan Truth Road Trips? I didn’t have before gaynor gave an explanation.
“We go out and discover new fan truths about our brand to really understand who our fans are and why they combine with our brand,” he says. “We look through the eyes of our fans and see that you pull our brand into so many different culture parts as anime, fashion, art or games.”
According to Angel and Gaynor, the teams College campus, rural areas, shopping centers, parks and more visit more to connect with McDonald’s lovers and to understand them beyond their favorite menu.
“It is important for us to understand the universe in which they live, and their interests, to see and understand our fans better,” says Engel. “We break in front of the four walls of McDonald’s to connect with our fans in the wild.”
The knowledge collected from this fan Truth Road Trips lead the direction of their strategies and have produced unique campaigns.
For example, the marketing campaign on the subject of McDonald’s anime topic “Wcdonald’s” was inspired by the connection that made McDonald’s fans between anime and the company.
McDonald’s used these fan connections by creating the fictional “Wcdonald’s” restaurant, which included a special sauce, an anime packaging and a number of anime shorts.
“We attracted a real gene Z insight over anime and found it relevant to Anime fans and McDonald’s fans,” says Gaynor. “We know that anime fans put our brand in an anime every day.”
And as a proud anime -I can confirm that McDonald’s is a staple in many anime series. For example, the main characters work in one of my favorite anime “Devil is a part of timer” in a place called “Mgronald’s”, a parody of the fast food chain.
In a popular anime film called “Weathering with you”, McDonald’s is also in one of the best-known healthy scenes.
And as Gaynor said, it is quite common for Anime fans to connect McDonald’s with their favorite series. In the following examples, a fan of the “Spy X Family” series attracted the main characters that McDonald’s ate.
By the way, if you would tell me 10 years ago, I would mention Anime in a professional blog post about marketing, I would have described you as a liar.
3 .. McDonald’s balances art and science in their marketing.
“Wcdonald’s” was a campaign that merge fan and data-controlled knowledge (science) with creative instinct (art), a formula that both gaynor and angels say, ensures successful campaigns.
“We say it is a balance between art and science, so we use consumer knowledge to ensure that the subcultures we pursue have a sufficiently large supporter to do business,” says Engel. “At the end of the day we need people who come in and visit McDonald’s and make a purchase.”
According to the angel, the company must be intended and selectively, in which niche it decides to open up. However, as soon as the niche has been agreed, it is time to take over art.
“We created a full anime playbook for the Wcdonald’s campaign,” she explains. “Our agencies used data to understand the right options and places to hold back people.”
4. The burger giant creates usable “ingredients” so that fans can make their own.
McDonalds can be used by creative fun by dropping unique elements (or “ingredients) that the fans can repeat and make their own. By actively participating and creating the fans with the brand, he deepens his commitment And reinforces its branding.
“We miss the ingredients in the world through our campaigns,” says Engel, “whether this is due to the food supply, a digital expansion as part of the campaign or social content.”
According to angels, fans transform the ingredients into fashion statements or new characters inspired by anime, posters and more.
“The pace that fans take branded ingredients and create something with them inspires and enables us,” she says. “And we always ask before a campaign starts:” Do we have enough ingredients out there that can take fans and hopefully make their own? “
