Building the Brand
Nzingha Reel
MKT/544
August 13, 2012
Susan Heywood

McDonalds is the largest fast food chain on the planet and the majority of their success can be contributed to their wise marketing and branding decisions (“Ask Your Target Market”, 2012). Started in 1940 by two brothers, McDonalds finds themselves spreading rapidly around the world with various market brands. McDonalds is unique in that their brand is able to stay current and it targets all age groups, ethnicities, genders, and even health habits. Their brand has done an excellent job of making sure that you know how to recognize one of their restaurants or products when you see them (“Ask Your Target Market”, 2012). McDonalds started out with the “Golden Arches” and “Ronald McDonald”. These brands were targeting the younger generation and many of the McDonald restaurants had the “Play House”. Over the years their brand has went from the “Play House” to the “Café House”, when they launched the brand of McCafe’. Their marketing team has done a great job communicating to its target audience through their products, prices, places, and promotions (Duncan, 2004). McDonalds has the right marketing communication mix working together in their marketing program. They use such marketing communication as advertising, publicity, sales promotion, packaging, events and sponsorships, and customer service (Duncan, 2004). “Advertising is non-personal, paid announcements by an identified sponsor” (Duncan, 2004, p.9). McDonalds has tons of advertisements on the television, internet, and bill boards. They even pick what commercials should be shown at certain times or networks. For example, on certain television networks like Nickelodeon, there will only be commercials featuring Ronald McDonalds. On some of the adult networks there are more commercials about McCafe’ or a larger serving of their famous chicken nuggets. There publicity has been more positive than negative because of all the charities that goes on in the surrounding communities; i.e., the Ronald McDonald House, college fund, and mass employment. When the dollar menu came about it cause the company to gain more customers because of the convenient pricing during these hard economic times. McDonalds is a proud sponsor for many events and they provide great customer service.
“Brand loyalty, the degree of attachment that customers have to a brand as expressed by repeat purchases” (Duncan, 2004, p.89). This is what McDonalds has with its customers and this makes them very successful in there market. Their brands invite people to become loyal because the entire family, office, team, etc. can get something from McDonalds when they go to their restaurants. This company has done a good job of catering to the needs and request of the public. From getting rid of their super size to putting apples in every “Happy Meal” to show they were health conscious. “Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that research by Customers DNA LLC showed McDonalds’ coffee customers are more loyal to the brand than both Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts customers” (Brand Symphony, para. 2). This is a big statement because Starbucks is the company that started the flavored coffee movement but McDonalds is the company that had an established customer base. This established customer base makes it easy to introduce new products and then remove them from the restaurants if they do not bring a profit.
McDonalds spent time and money to research and understands its market and customers. While staying current, the brand has grown to still hold its original promise as cheap and fast (Brand Symphony, 2012). These are the tools that has made their branding successful and sustained the longevity of their company. The brothers, whom founded this company, had no idea of what this market would become and the path the company would take. Through McDonalds continued growth they have forced other fast food chains to take action so they can stay current. Other companies could model McDonalds’ strategy and be successful.

References
Ask your target market. (2012). Retrieved from http://aytm.com/blog/research-junction/how-to-brand-research/
Brand symphony. (2012). Retrieved from http://brandsymphony.org/
Duncan, T. (2004). Principles of advertising; IMC (2th ed): McGraw-Hill/Irwin