McDonald’s has grown at a rapid pace in the last decade. It has changed the face of fast food industry, especially in context to India. It brought in the concept of branded chain of fast food in this Asian country and many followed them in like Domino’s, Pizza Hut and the most recent entrant bring KFC. It can be said, that McDonald’s has been a pioneer of sorts in India if we look at the international fast food chains.
McDonald’s besides India has a large global presence as well in different countries. Recently, McDonald’s has started a new initiative, that of having televisions featuring M Channel, across 700 McDonald’s, outlets in and around Los Angeles. The testing of this channel across McDonald dine-in’s is being done in a similar manner as the survey was done for BigMac and Chicken McNuggets.
The Strategy behind Launching the McDonald Channel:
The channel aims at offering exclusive content, in order to entertain customers. It also, plans to create promotional campaigns for companies who want to dive into the Mcdonald’s Customer Pool. The food biggie, is thinking way beyond just a television channel. The channel is keen to broadcast its own news, entertainment and sportscasts customized as per the city. It plans to direct viewers about shopping opportunities and other events happening around in their city. The channel targets a different group of audience at different hours of the day. This way, McDonald’s is trying to create the image of a place wherein, people get good quality food and also the kind of information they want to know.
McDonald’s by launching its own channel is trying to have a stronger connect with its customers. Having a customized channel city wise, is a great idea to understand its customers better. Seeing, the pattern and the demographics of people flocking in at different times, the idea of having customer specific programmes is a great idea. Since, this is an in-house channel running in exclusive McDonald outlets only, people interested in local news and events would flock to the joint more often. There is a value-add apart from food. This in turn will increase the footfall of the McDonald’s outlet.
Companies and advertisers often fail in reaching out to the right people. By advertising on the McChannel, they know they are customers who are inclined to see and listen to what they have to say. This is a strong and strategic idea for both McDonalds and its channel partners.
