A Key Note on McDonald’s

McDonald’s is a famous name in the fast-food sector. This multinational fast food corporation is an American franchise. It started in 1940 as a restaurant run by Richard and Maurice McDonald. Richard and Maurice renovated their business into hamburger stands and later turned it into a franchise. In 1955, the McDonald brothers sold their franchise to Ray Kroc, who was a businessman but joined the company as a franchise agent. This article explores the history of McDonald’s and its marketing strategy. 

History of McDonald’s

Brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald founded this fast-food chain in 1940 as a restaurant. In 1948, the McDonald brothers converted their drive-through restaurant into a milkshake and hamburger joint. This restaurant, famous for its hamburger, milkshake, potato chips, and pies, was located in San Bernardino, California. 

This fast-food franchise focused on selling burgers, fries, and shakes and sold them at half the price of other restaurants. This concept was facilitated by their idea of installing a self-service counter instead of waiters and waitresses. They also prepared all their orders beforehand and kept them under high powered lamps instead of cooking each meal when the order was placed. This type of functionality of restaurants can be seen in modern fast-food restaurants.

In 1954, Ray Kroc went to the restaurant to see how a small establishment could sell so many milkshakes. Kroc became a franchise agent for the brothers after realising that this restaurant concept had a lot of potential. He later formed McDonald’s Systems, Inc., which became McDonald’s Corporation in April 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. He also started the first McDonald’s franchise east of the Mississippi River. Kroc acquired the flagship store from the McDonald brothers in 1961.

Brand mascot of McDonald’s

McDonald’s can effectively promote a comic clown figure to both kids and adults. McDonald’s pioneered the brand mascot approach in 1963, and the mascot has since become an important part of the company’s heritage.

McDonald’s marketing strategies

This fast-food chain has developed a modern approach to marketing and consumption patterns. McDonald’s aims to increase its market share by improving customer satisfaction and attracting new customers by saving costs, boosting brand awareness, and enhancing brand efficiencies. 

Product strategy

McDonald’s offers a vast range of fast foods at affordable prices. You can find their menu all around the globe with variations to suit the targeted country. Along with this, it keeps improving its recipes to fit its customer base’s changing tastes and likes.

One of its greatest strategies is delivering fast service, which is a huge value addition to the brand. This strategy is unique to McDonalds’ as you can get a range of items at low prices with such quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. 

Price strategy

Providing good quality food at half price is one of the main strategies of McDonald’s. This strategy has allowed this franchise to become so powerful. McDonald’s low pricing strategies made the company reach the top of the fast-food brands in the world.

Like in India, it came up with a tagline that accentuated the lower prices offered in the past. This tagline was focused on attracting middle class and lower-middle-class customers. This strategy led to the huge popularity of McDonald’s in India. 

Place and distribution strategy

McDonald’s has spread its wings in more than 100 countries because of its quick-service restaurant (QSR). This fast-food chain has over 38000 restaurants and has recently opened about 1000 new and modernised many existing restaurants. 

This multinational fast food corporation has opened different restaurant formats like drive-ins, online ordering, and partnering with delivery partners. McDonald’s place and distribution strategy has allowed customers to get the desired food at the desired place on time.

Promotion strategy

McDonald’s has overused many promotion strategies that have helped them attract the desired customer base. Their promotional approach has helped this multinational fast-food corporation attract people who usually don’t visit such places. Just like any other fast-food company, McDonald’s has also sponsored many promotion campaigns to target its desired audience. 

Collaborations with other brands and celebrities

The multinational fast food corporation has partnered with various brands and celebrities as a part of its promotional marketing strategy. These collaborations aim to keep the company’s brand fresh in its customers’ minds. This goes beyond simply developing advertising campaigns to promote the worth of its products.

One of its latest collaborations includes BTS, which is one of the most popular South Korean music bands. They collaborated to create a new McDonald’s meal which is known as the BTS Meal. Similarly, it has worked with artists such as Travis Scott and J Balvin and corporations such as Coca-Cola.

Conclusion

McDonald’s is one of the most famous fast-food franchises. This company initially began in 1940 as a restaurant and later was developed into a full-fledged self-service fast-food franchise chain. This multinational fast food corporation has applied various marketing strategies, such as providing quick service and developing logos and mascots that target its customer base and collaborations. These strategies have made McDonald’s one of the most famous fast-food franchises around the globe.