Macdonald's Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Macdonald's - Case Study Example At some point, upon saturation in the market, he may return to a modified "multipronged" approach, and readdresses their desire to dominate the market, altering their product strategy to meet the specific needs of the market as dictated by their cultural and economic environments. Competition from players within the market such as Subway and from the substitute products has increased. New entrants such as Subway with fresh salads and sandwiches are giving tough competition to McDonald. Apart from this coffee outlets product market is itself giving tough competition to Mc Donald, who got affected due to world wide concern for Obesity. Another key factor responsible for the decrease in sales is the changing customer preferences and tastes. Young customers form the major segment of the market. The customers seek variety and buy products that look trendy. They also show high degree of brand preference. Youth are less interested in McDonald, as they perceive it to be an old formulation. The company's inability to handle its marketing mix properly is cited another key factor for the poor performance of the brand. Food product outlets require heavy promotions. The company did not provide enough consumptions avenues to customers help in improving sales. Identifying mAs with successful ad campaign, the company followed a planning process as outlined below: (i) Identifying marketing objectivities (ii) Communication effects (iii) Processing (iv) Exposure Identifying marketing objectives: first firm has to decide upon the marketing objectives that it wants to satisfy and the role of advertising in meeting those objectives. McDonald's advertising and promotion activities were minimal in the year 2004. Promotions were limited to banners and specific promotions. However the fast food market was growing rapidly. Thus company realized that burger is no longer an unmarked food product and has been accepted by consumers. The company has decided that it is the right time to improve its position in the market. The company identified that targeting the burgeoning middle class homes, whose income are on the rise and whose attitude towards eating out is changing, can increase volumes. Communication effects: any successful advertising campaign should establish a communication effects in the minds of the consumer that encourage him to take action (purchasing a product). A company can select from four possible communication effects. They are category need, brand awareness, brand attitude, and brand purchase intention Processing: McDonald then had to devise an advertising strategy to achieve its communication objectives. The company came up with the Big Mac campaign, which had short duration teaser ads that highlighted the intention to buy its burger. Exposure: the final step in an advertising program is to decide upon the original exposure of the ad campaign to achieve the desired impact of the target segment. Two aspects have to be decided at this stage media selection and media scheduling. Media selection refers to the identification of media through which the campaign has to run. Media scheduling refers to the taming and frequency with which the ads are exposed to the target audience. McDonald did not have a large