McDonalds is pretty darned smart. You might have your reasons for not liking them. You might feel they’re antithetical to all you hold pure and dear. It doesn’t make them any less smart.
They are master marketers. They are business efficiency professionals. They are experience managers. They are savvy business people.
Instead of worrying about instore sales growth, they acquired several other brands that you barely even think about. Instead of worrying about what we say is important to us, nutrition-wise, they provide the few nutritious things we pretend to order while serving up the food we really want when we seek rapid delivery.
Their McCafe line might not be crushing it yet, but they have a horse in the race. Parents who bring their children to McDonalds aren’t making two window stops as often now. It’s another way to sell us into something we could use, quickly, affordably, and handily.
There is a very low personalization requirement at McDonalds. When we choose to eat there, we forego the cafe-shaped world and enter into the rapid delivery world, the “known” world. We know what we’ll get when we come there.
For every time I tell you that social media and customized personalization and cafe-shaped conversations are the way to go, remember that McDonalds continues to thrive, and that McDonalds is mass marketing at its shiniest, and that they are making billions and billions without even caring a lick about what I say the future will be.
Hold the onions.
