A really cool brand, thats what they call Quarter Pounder in Japan. I can't believe I'm writing this, but McDonalds actually came up with an amazing concept: two Japanese concept restaurants in Shibuya and Omotesando called Quarter Pounder.
The super simple menu is: Quarter Pounder, Double Quarter Pounder, fries & drinks. Brilliant. I haven't stepped inside a McDs in over 10 years but this has me itching now. Ultra cool I have to say. By focusing the brandon a narrow and focused experience, the uber generic McDonalds manages to emerge as a cool brand. Packaging and store experience all reflecting the different image.
Read the full article in Business Week
A press release from McDonald's (at least according to a few other blogs) says that this is just to create buzz marketing for the Quarter Pounder (not yet on menus at McDonald's in Japan) as it's introduced.
ReplyDeleteDr. Tantillo's just published a post on McDonald's on his marketing blog, in which he praises McDonald's for being so flexible and adapting to demand but prefaced this with: "The big things about McDonald’s cosmetic image (i.e., colors, designs, clown mascot) have never essentially changed. Neither has the basic serving and restaurant setup."
Guess they are even more flexible though... Tantillo's full post
Even though this is supposed to just be temporary/buzz marketing, I wonder if cultivating this sort of aesthetic wouldn't make sense for them--a move to diversify their holdings (they own a significant portion of Chipotle, or did last I knew) and expand/diversify their customer base (Ex. their 'unsnobby coffee' campaign. Tantillo did a post on Starbucks/Dunkin' Donuts mentioning McDonald's coffee, too.