The McDonalds Corporation: Planning for Branding

Authors Avatar

Name: Andrew Pollard

Student Number: 011072605

Module: MM30710

Lecturer: Gary Akehurst

Word Limit: 1500

Word Count: 1627

Deadline: Monday 22nd October 2004

Handed In: Monday 22nd October 2004

The McDonalds Corporation: Planning for Branding

Terms of Reference

The task at hand is to look at one aspect of an organisation’s marketing management activities, in order to develop my own learning and understanding of the module. I have decided to use the McDonalds fast food chain as my chosen organisation, and have decided to look at its use of branding. I will look at how McDonald’s uses branding to benefit itself against its competitors in the fast food market.

Main Report and Recommendations

The McDonalds fast good chain has an enormous reputation and customer base on an international scale. The famous “Golden M” logo of the company was recently said to be more recognisable than the Christian cross symbol in a recent worldwide survey. More people recognise the “Golden M” as representing McDonalds than recognise the cross as representing Christianity. Similarly, the McDonalds Corporation did not invent the hamburger or fast food, but it is synonymous with both and over the last few decades has been the biggest selling fast food chain in the world, changing over time to mirror changing consumer preferences. Currently there are 31,000 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide in 121 countries. A high majority of these restaurants offer both indoor and drive-thru services, enabling quick and easy ordering, purchasing and collection of the consumer’s meal.

Over the years, McDonalds has changed it’s branding in order to keep on top of the fast food market. In the 1970’s the company was represented by a fictional character called Mayor McCheese, wearing a monocle, diplomat’s sash and a top hat. The image of this character was to give the impression of an educated person who was suggesting that the food on offer by McDonalds was the right option for consumers, both old and young. In this fictional world, Mayor McCheese’s Chief of Police was known as Big Mac. Product wise, the Big Mac name went on to become the most recognisable name within the McDonalds Corporation. The Big Mac was the main attraction for McDonalds, a quick, easy, and tasty food option at a relatively low price. The company also introduced more characters to their “McDonaldland” environment, most notably Ronald McDonald, a clown aimed at the child audience, who would eventually go on to become a spokesperson of sorts for the company. Along with Ronald McDonald being aimed at the young, along came the Happy Meal. The Happy Meal was introduced in 1979 and was a child’s meal that included a free toy. With the introduction of this, along with the Ronald McDonald character, the company was firmly aiming for the youth market. If a child sees the chance of a free toy then they are immediately interested in a product and so pester their parents to take them to the McDonalds chain. The company also introduced birthday parties and such like, along with regularly changing their free toys, to entice larger numbers and parties of children into their restaurants.

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Branding, or a brand, takes the form of a symbolic construct created by a marketer to represent a collection of information about a product, in this case the McDonalds Corporation and its fast food products. This symbolic construct typically consists of a name, identifying mark, visual images or symbols, or possibly, in some cases, mental concepts which distinguishes the product. A brand often carries connotations of a product’s promise, of the point of difference between the product and its competitors which makes it unique. This is often implemented by a firm to give the product a personality, an image ...

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