I’m Hatin’ It: McDonald’s Market Research

by Judy Lee in Business on February 9th, 2010

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Sharon takes a bite of her Chicken Parmigiana Snack Wrap. She turns to her friends Lois and Bram, and says, “This is only so-so, and I might buy it again only because it is cheap.” In Vancouver, an easy-to-test city that can mimic US cities, Sharon, Lois, and Bram are unknowingly taking part in McDonald’s test marketing campaign. They are pawns! If you chose to eat or not eat new items at McDonalds, you are part of the pawn game too.

It’s simple market research; if the newly launched Parmagiana Chicken wrap is hot, it will stay on the menu. If it tanks, it will be yanked from the menu to the horror of those people who actually do like it.

The menu is ever-evolving at our #1 fast food restaurant. While they have struck gold in the fast food world with Big Macs, Chicken Nuggets, and Filet-O-Fishes, they haven’t always had podium-finishing winners. Here are some losers from the golden McDonald’s:

McPizza (1991)

Who doesn’t love a good cheesy pizza? As a satisfying food, you can as easily find frozen or buck-a-slice pizza with as much ease as you do Starbucks coffee. Pizza sounds simple enough to sell, but McDonald’s isn’t in the pizza business. People wanted ‘real’ pizza and the wait times for made-to-order pizza did not work for people on the go.

Arch Deluxe (1996)

A fancy mustard-mayo sauce in the Arch Deluxe didn’t help it serve billions. I vaguely remember this burger, and it wasn’t appealing to me as a kid at the time. Instead it was aimed at cool adults, and the Arch Deluxe image was that of a highfalutin alternative burger. It ultimately failed because of its marketing. With a $100 million dollar campaign, the snotty adult image of the burger didn’t align with the brand.

McRib (1981, 1994, 2005, 2007, and 2008)

There is an on-again and off-again relationship between McDonalds and their McRib sandwich. For those who forget, it was a bun with a boneless pork patty, all-important barbeque sauce, onions, and pickles. An occasional indulger of McDonalds, Cyrus Yeung remembers the McRib as being, a “tasty”, “dense burger”, that was “more filling than a standard sandwich, so I felt like I got better value from it.” The filling sandwich’s fat content was high at 26 grams, but the sales were slim.

As promising as new food can be, McDonald’s can’t rely on their big brand name for success. With moneymaking goals, McDonald’s invests in a lot of market research. Anything from analysis of competitors, food trends, and focus groups to test marketing, is part of market research. The more you know the better off you will fare in the burger-eat-burger world.

It’s an elephant show out there, and any customer experience, like food prices, can be tested aside from the food in the different regional McDonald’s restaurants. Next, Sharon could be using McChopsticks to eat her McSweet-and-Sour-Pork (why not, with 175 McDonald’s set to open up in China!), McCurry, and McSushi along with McTUMS in the future.

Judy Lee

Judy has an orange bag. In it, she has her essentials including her MacBook, shiny iPhone, and Moleskine. They are her must-haves because she is always on the go. Living the Vancouver life, she is passionate about working out, eating out, and hashing out strategic plans for good marketing.

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http://www.ninepointten.com Adam

You forgot to mention the latest MacDonalds fail, the the ‘McItaly’ burger. Not surprisingly some of the locals are finding it ‘hard to swallow’.

Adam
@adamkambeitz
Greg

I didn’t mind the taste of the McRib burger. It wasn’t worth it to me though since it tastes just like the microwaveable rib sandwiches they used to sell at Costco.
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/judyelee Judy Lee

Adam, that’s hot news. I just read that the McItaly burger is causing an uproar! http://plonk.in/9734 Selling out? A lot of other country or regions ‘share’ their specific McFood too. Think Teriyaki McChicken!

Greg, Costco fast food is hard to beat too! Cheap cheap cheap.
http://www.meplusfood.com Dave

haha i remember eating a lot of those McPizzas as a kid and still remember the box. I want to try the Chicken Parmigiana snack wrap lol
http://randall2988.blogspot.com ran

Chicken Parmigiana Snack Wrap is awesome with it’s stinky cheese smell!
http://highmaintenancewoman.blogspot.com MizzJ

Aww I actually like the Arch Deluxe as it had more toppings than normal burgers! I tried the Mango dipping sauce for the McNuggets the other day and it tasted like curry, not mango! You should try the new S’more pie though; it’s soooo bad it’s good.
http://twitter.com/judyelee Judy Lee

Adam, you are right. McItaly is hot in the news right now. Selling out Italian cuisine? Other countries or regions ‘share’ their McFood specialities. Think Teriyaki McChicken!

Greg, Costco is hard to beat too. Cheap cheap cheap…
http://twitter.com/judyelee Judy Lee

I remember those McPizza days too, Dave. It didn’t seem that long ago.

Hm, Chicken Parm wrap is ok! Randall, I can’t believe that you ate 6 of them!

MizzJ, I heard both good and bad about the S’mores pie. I’ll have to try it myself. Thanks for the tip!
http://hausofhybrid.com Erin Gee

I will say that the McRib looks gross in the pic
http://twitter.com/judyelee Judy Lee

I agree, Erin! The McRib’s burger looks shiny and chunky (it’s a boneless pork patty, but they made it look like ribs) in that pic…

They do a better job of food styling their Big Macs and nuggets for pictures!
http://vancitynetworks.com/ Michael Tao

The McRibs looks like cherries inside.
Ambrose Lau

They have this American themed menu here now: Texas, California, New York, and Hawaii burgers. Surprisingly they all taste quite similar…McMarketing.
http://twitter.com/judyelee Judy Lee

They look pretty different (good run down here, http://plonk.in/915d), but they taste the same? Likely because they are all Quarter Pounder spin-offs, but with different fillings. Not a bad move to expand on a product that is really popular. McMarketing for sure, Ambrose.

Check out the ‘Big America’ campaign for these burgers, http://plonk.in/03ff

The Texas burger looks promising with fried onions! Wish I were in Japan to try them out.
http://sundaralife.blogspot.com liv

that mcrib looks nastay!!
http://thirdwaveactivism.com Scott Andrews

I visited McDonald’s in New Delhi and at the vegetarian McChappati with a Sprite and Fries. The location in Connaught place just outside of downtown Delhi was packed! There was no beef or pork as those are ingredients for civil war in those parts.

I will say that McDonald’s turns my stomach with the amount of packaging and disgustingly processed meat they use. Interesting piece though; I would love to see a McDonalds market a 100 kilometer diet campaign. I can dream right?
http://twitter.com/judyelee Judy Lee

How did the McChappati taste? McD’s supply chain is extremely efficient. I just read about their operation in India. They do source within India, but sourcing within 100 KMs…that is unlikely and unrealistic. Dreams, for sure!

Interesting read re: McD’s in India: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/mcdonalds-india-supply-chain-729402.html
http://thirdwaveactivism.com Scott Andrews

It was definitely a shock to the system after four months of local grub and no Western style grease. The McDonalds itself was quite the spectacle… however McDonalds and their suppliers are part of a scary trend of industrial food processing. This is concerning for a very crowded part of the world.

Now I don’t pretend to be an expert on Indian Agriculture practices, but farmer suicides, infant malnutrition and water borne fatalities are either on the rise or at unacceptable levels. I spent time with an Oxfam partner in the Gujarat province and witnessed the devastating impact of displacing (traditional) farmers. Food supply chains can have devastating human costs and Multinational Corporations have to consider these even though there are incredible profits to be had.

That said, change is happening and it’s a matter of taking some important humanitarian precautions when transforming livelihoods. India is a gongshow when it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility, but after spending some time there I am definitely concerned about the impact of their enormous economic transformation. Vandana Shiva @ http://www.navdanya.org/ is a wealth of knowledge and activism as to how preserve sustainability and human rights in an area undergoing such rapid changes.

lol! sorry for the over the top tangent/rant
http://twitter.com/judyelee Judy Lee

thanks for sharing your insight and experience, scott! good to hear that conditions are improving from your perspective…being front and centre of the matter.