{"id":8607,"date":"2020-11-02T13:32:21","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T18:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/?p=8607"},"modified":"2021-03-10T11:45:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T16:45:53","slug":"mcdonalds-marketing-genius-stupidly-simple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/originals\/mcdonalds-marketing-genius-stupidly-simple\/","title":{"rendered":"McDonald&#8217;s Marketing Genius Reveals the Power of Stupidly Simple"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\">3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>\n<p>Last summer, Burger King added a new menu item to light a spark\u2014tacos. Yes, <em>tacos<\/em>! At <em>Burger King<\/em>! &nbsp;It was the latest in a long line of fast food giants making splashes with new &#8220;limited-time&#8221; items (some clearly more successful than others), but 2020 has been notably devoid of these promotions. The COVID-19 pandemic put a wrench in every business\u2019 plans, and in response to lower sales, many fast food restaurants <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/08\/08\/coronavirus-these-restaurant-chains-cut-menu-items-during-the-pandemic.html\">decided to cut back<\/a> on their menus. That meant no buzzy new meals, sauces, or regional ventures to get curious customers through the doors. But McDonald\u2019s has made the biggest splash of the year in fast food, and it didn\u2019t need to make a single change to its supply chain to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020, Mickey D\u2019s focused a significant portion of its marketing efforts on \u201cfamous orders\u201d\u2014showing regular diners how to eat like the stars. The effort made its public debut in February, with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mashed.com\/186362\/mcdonalds-reveals-celebs-famous-orders-in-super-bowl-pre-game-ad\/\">Super Bowl pregame ad<\/a> that depicted the regular orders of Patrick Mahomes, Kim Kardashian, Joe Montana, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Famous Orders | McDonald\u2019s\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_bO5mf8MQ7Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And this fall, they doubled down on the concept. In early September, McDonald\u2019s announced the new \u201cTravis Scott Meal,\u201d created in partnership with the popular rapper from Houston. But the meal wasn\u2019t very new at all\u2014it consisted entirely of ingredients that were already stocked in each location, with only minor modifications to existing menu items. Scott\u2019s preferred Quarter Pounder with Cheese adds bacon and lettuce, and he dips his fries in barbecue sauce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But although the meal mostly just looks like a normal Quarter Pounder combo, it was such a hit that some locations sold out of the necessary ingredients. Much of that is due to Scott&#8217;s star power\u2014 Morgan Flatley, McDonald&#8217;s chief marketing officer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/the-inside-story-of-mcdonalds-travis-scott-collaboration-2020-8\">called<\/a> Scott &#8220;the definition of big in culture,&#8221; praising his social clout and youth appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;His ability to kind of see where culture is going and have a hand in where culture is going is really unique,&#8221; Flatley said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Encouraged by that meal&#8217;s success, McDonald\u2019s is replicating its process with J Balvin, a pop artist from Colombia. His meal is even simpler than Scott\u2019s\u2014an unchanged Big Mac (they say J likes his without pickles, but yours will come with them unless you specify), fries with ketchup, and an Oreo McFlurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All this is to say that even with limited marketing options at its disposal, McDonald\u2019s has put on a display of stupidly simple marketing mastery in 2020. McDonald\u2019s generated immense buzz without a single change to its supply chain\u2014or even its packaging! And that streamlined menu means easier decisions for customers, fewer stocked ingredients in kitchens, and ultimately, faster service time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis decision (to shrink the menu) helped simplify operations for our restaurant crew while also improving our customers&#8217; experience,&#8221; the company said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/06\/23\/business\/restaurant-menus-shrinking\/index.html\">statement<\/a>. Mickey D\u2019s didn\u2019t sacrifice anything to achieve those goals, because the numbers looked good, too\u2014the meal fueled the chain to a 4.3% increase in Q3 U.S. same-store sales, exceptionally strong performance in a pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lots of fast food brands partner with celebrities, but few have more effectively intertwined them with specific menu items\u2014the ones they supposedly love and actually order IRL\u2014than McDonald\u2019s. The international brand, anchored in 118 countries around the globe, doubled down on being something that everyone enjoys, whether you\u2019re a Colombian pop star, a New York-based graphic designer, or a farmer in Idaho. And if you\u2019re as ubiquitous as McDonald\u2019s, simplest is best. Hone in on what you\u2019ve got on the menu, using celebrity spokespeople to reinforce the popularity of those meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McDonald\u2019s does deserve credit for leaning into the collaboration and allowing the celebrity\u2019s voice, style, and iconography to dominate. This results in some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebaumsworld.com\/pictures\/mcdonalds-new-cactus-jack-meal-gets-memed\/86382458\/\">cringey, memeable marketing activity<\/a>, but it also really helped to publicize their promotions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">say Cactus Jack sent you<\/p>&mdash; McDonald&#39;s (@McDonalds) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/McDonalds\/status\/1303339007695298561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 8, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>McDonald\u2019s also created limited-edition merchandise with both Scott and J Balvin\u2014Travis Scott\u2019s merch always sells out, and this line was no exception. In his debut commercial, J Balvin sported some eye-popping chains representing each of his meal\u2019s menu items, and McDonald\u2019s partnered with the NTWRK app to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thrillist.com\/news\/nation\/mcdonalds-j-balvin-meal-diamond-chains-how-to-win\">give away a few of them<\/a> to lucky fans.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McDonald\u2019s also seems to have similar plans for 2021, as the brand has announced more collaborations lined up through the winter. Based on the success of the Travis Scott meal, a celebrity feature could become a permanent fixture on drive-thru menu boards. With a shockingly simple premise, the biggest giant in the fast food industry might\u2019ve revolutionized food marketing yet again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style='position: relative;width: auto;padding: 0 0 62.5%;height: 0;top: 0;left: 0;bottom: 0;right: 0;margin: 0;border: 0 none' id=\"experience-5ee1313c103da\" data-aspectRatio=\"1.6\"><iframe allowfullscreen src='\/\/view.ceros.com\/editorial-content\/landing-page-1-2-1-1-2-1-1' style='position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;bottom: 0;right: 0;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: 0 none;height: 1px;width: 1px;min-height: 100%;min-width: 100%' frameborder='0' class='ceros-experience' title='Inspire Curious Sign-up Embed' scrolling='no'><\/iframe><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/view.ceros.com\/scroll-proxy.min.js\" data-ceros-origin-domains=\"view.ceros.com\"><\/script>\n\n\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"myclass\">The COVID pandemic is shrinking menus across the fast food industry, but McDonald&#8217;s made the biggest splash of the year by keeping it shockingly simple.<\/div>\n<p><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":8610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.3 - 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