McDonald's Web Experience
Quite possibly one of the coolest sites on the web...
McDonald's Australia
Submitted By:
Website Technology
10/20/2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Welcome to Think Next!
Feel free to leave comments on our posts and we hope that this material will help lead all of us to further inspiration!
ThinkNext Events
Labels
- Electronic Devices (3)
- Entertainment (3)
- Mobile Marketing (4)
- Online (4)
- PR (2)
- Print (2)
- Social Networking (2)
- Website Technology (7)
1 comment:
McDonald's taps into cyberspace and blogging to woo customers
(Crain’s Chicago Business) — McDonald's Corp. is trying to woo consumers in cyberspace and provide them with interactive experiences in its restaurants as it tries to remain relevant to customers, CEO Jim Skinner said Tuesday.
The Oak Brook-based burger giant has been responding to bloggers who criticize the health of its food and the wages of its restaurant employees by posting blogs of its own and producing podcasts, available on McDonald’s Web site.
The company is also testing self-serve kiosks in some restaurants and experimenting in others with handheld devices that process orders, Mr. Skinner told a packed auditorium at the Palmer House Hilton gathered for a consumer forum on “humanizing the digital experience.” The forum was organized by Cambridge, Mass.-based technology research firm Forrester Research Inc.
“The restaurant industry is not on the forefront of technology,” Mr. Skinner said. “It’s one of the most labor-intensive businesses.”
Advertisement
Related Article Topics | Related Industry News
But that’s not stopping the company from using the Internet to interact with consumers in new ways. Just a few years ago, Mr. Skinner said, 85% of McDonald’s marketing budget was spent on television ads; now, as marketing has shifted online, just 70% of its marketing dollars are spent on traditional TV spots.
A few months ago, McDonald’s announced a global casting call to support a new marketing strategy for the company’s packaging. The company encouraged consumers to send in videos describing what they love about McDonald’s. Of the 13,000 submissions that came in from more than 100 countries, McDonald’s chose 25 “stars” who will appear on McDonald’s sandwich cartons, soda cups and takeout bags.
McDonald’s has been trying to reach teens and young adults with a series of “webisodes” on YouTube and Yahoo video. One spot features two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches talking to each other.
Being hip and relevant to tweens, teens and young adults is increasingly important as younger generations become more technically savvy and skip past commercials on TiVo. Ronald McDonald’s rival, the Burger King mascot, has his own page on myspace.com. Related story: The King is Lurking
Mr. Skinner said it’s hard to measure the return on investment from such marketing and technology spending. The payoff, he said, comes in keeping pace with customers. But no matter how many restaurants offer wireless Internet access or how many people see McDonald’s ads online, he said the human interaction between the customer and the crew person is still “the moment of truth.”
Post a Comment