Mcdonald s Continues to Be a Global Marketing Success Case Study
McDonald's first opened in California in 1948 by two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonalds (Tikkanen). Feeding over 68 million people daily, the company has grown to become the world's largest fast-food chain (Lubin & Badkar, 2010). Currently, they have over 37,000 branches in a total of 120 countries (Lubin & Badkar, 2010). Their increasing success over the past decades was because of the company's ability to understand their diverse target audiences to create effective global marketing strategies while providing the best customer experience for their guests.
As a well-known brand around the world, McDonald's caters to their global customers with varying marketing strategies for different countries. In the majority of the countries they operate in, McDonald's is known for their hamburger menu. Every second, McDonald's sells more than 75 hamburgers (Lubin & Badkar, 2010). As a result, they have specialized burger menu item for each country to cater it to their culture. For example, in Korea they have a bulgogi burger where the patty is sweeter. Meanwhile, in Canada and Australia, they sell the Angus burger where the beef is considered to be more high quality because the patty is more marbleized and thicker than the regular patty.
Not only do they show understanding and support for cultural diversity, they make sure to understand the country's preferences and values. For instance, in China, their rapid urbanization has raised many concerns for the environment and public health because of the water scarcity and pollution (Yang, Wright, & Gundry, 2012). In response to this, many people in China are very concerned with the sanitation of their food. As a result, McDonald's advertisements in China were more focused on displaying fresh, clean ingredients. Another example is India where 85% of the population cannot eat beef because of their Hindu religion (Cook, 2013). Additionally, many establishments in India that sell beef are looked upon negatively. As a result, McDonald's tailors to this culture by not selling any beef products in their stores but chicken and fish products instead.
Another reason to McDonald's is globally popularity is their practice of good ethics and moral responsibility. They provide a customer centric experience and stays updated with the current trends that country. Globally, we are familiar with red and yellow representing McDonald's. However, in European countries, their brand colours are dark green and yellow to respect their culture of environmental preservation (Montagne, 2009).
Moreover, in France, McDonald's released a campaign called "Venez Commes Vous Etes" which translates to "Come As You Are" to support the tolerance of the gay community. The intention of this ad was to show that McDonald's is a place where people can be themselves. This campaign was released back in 2010, where the LGBTQ community was more accepted in France than it was in America (Cook, 2013). If this campaign was released in America in 2010, it would have created a lot of controversy. I think this campaign is a great example of McDonald's humanizing their brand by understanding the cultural differences and supporting France's movement towards liberating the LGBT community. Releasing this campaign attaches a great personality to their brand in France.
McDonald's is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. According to the Sponsorship Research International, 88% of people can identify McDonald's Golden Arc in comparison of only 54% who could correctly identify the Christian cross (Lubin & Badkar, 2010). Even though they adapt globally to change cultural aspects of the brand in every country, the origin of the brand remains consistent and the same. This includes the core menu items that can be found in most of the countries worldwide such as the Big Mac and their world-famous fries. Their strong support for cultural diversity and ability to successfully see what sets every country apart has a tremendous effect on their sales worldwide. They understand that homogenizing their menu items and marketing strategies are not going to be successful in different areas around the world. Even with these changes, they are able to keep a consistent branding so that it can be recognized worldwide.
References
Cook, C. (2013, October 10). To What Extent does McDonald's Global Advertising Support Cultural Diversity or Homogenization? Retrieved October 18, 2019, from https://prezi.com/muike2k9mdkx/to-what-extent-does-mcdonalds-global-advertising-support-cultural-diversity-or-homogenization/.
Eating McDonald's Around The World. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94WyFXTPzvs
Lubin, G., & Badkar, M. (2010, December 17). 15 Facts About McDonald's That Will Blow Your Mind. Retrieved October 18, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-facts-mcdonalds-2010-12#mcdonalds-daily-customer-traffic-62m-is-greater-than-the-population-of-great-britain-1.
McDonald's France gay ad Come As You Are. (2010). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xGRii6IA1M
Montagne, R. (2009, November 24). McDonald's Makes Its Logo More 'Green' In Europe. Retrieved October 18, 2019, from https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120738574.
Tikkanen, A. (n.d.). McDonald's. Retrieved October 18, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/McDonalds.
Yang, H., Wright, J. A., & Gundry, S. W. (2012, August 1). Improve access to sanitation in China. Retrieved October 18, 2019, from https://www.nature.com/articles/488032b.
Source: https://ewhabrandcommunication.wordpress.com/2019/10/18/successful-global-marketing-strategy-of-mcdonalds/
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