USA: McDonald's

McDonald's

For our first week of research, we are focusing on a company that is a household name not only in the United States, but all around the world. With over 360,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries, McDonald’s is a powerhouse of a company.

We chose to research McDonald’s branding strategies for numerous reasons, including its popularity and accessibility in both the US and China. McDonald's seems to be a company that brands themselves in the same manner no matter where you are. We are interested to see if this persona they have about themselves as a brand is true or not and we are going to research and test to see if there is good consistency from one country to the next.

History About McDonald's

It all started when two brothers,  Richard and Maurice McDonald, opened their first McDonald’s in 1940 with Speedee as the mascot, where they only served barbecue and burgers, no fries. But, in 1952, Speedy was replaced by the “Golden Arches.” In 1954 salesman Ray Kroc visited the McDonald brothers in hopes of selling them multimixers, but instead, stepped in as McDonald’s National Franchising Agent. Kroc opened the first out-of-state McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois, and by 1959 there were 102 restaurants nationwide.

In 1966 the first McDonald’s commercial aired on television introducing Ronald McDonald as the new face of the brand. Ronald was so popular that they created a whole set of friends for him with a new target demographic in mind—children. With the new target demographic came new product, and in 1979, the Happy Meal was introduced. Then, in 1987, one of the biggest fast-food marketing ideas of all time was born—the Monopoly Sweepstakes Game, which is still going strong today.

Over the next few decades McDonald’s became synonymous with cheap, tasty meals, but they have been criticized in recent years for their unhealthy menu. Today, McDonald’s is marketing healthier options, which of course, includes options for their Happy Meals.

The History Behind the Logo

1948: Speedy, drawn up by the McDonald brothers, was not only the the face of the brand, but was also used as the company's logo for branding.

Image provided by: http://www.creativebloq.com

1961: McDonald’s distinctive architecture was incorporated into a new logo, which resulted in an “M” with a slanted line running through it, which represented the slanted roof of the building.

Image provided by: http://www.creativebloq.com

2003: Heye & Partner GmbH created the ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ campaign, which featured the stripped black and yellow golden arches logo with the official motto cutting through the arches.

Image provided by: http://www.creativebloq.com

2006: The dimension of the golden arches was dropped in favor of a flat design, which is also void of the ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ motto. This is the McDonald’s logo that is still used today.

Image provided by: http://www.creativebloq.com

Logo and Trademark Standards

The official McDonald’s Global and Trademark Standards Reference guide is a great asset to our research. This resource shows us what to look for as we go into different stores and especially what to look for as we go overseas to McDonald's in China.

From the guide, we have pulled pages that show the company's usage guidelines, including the official colors that apply to all instances of the logo, when each logo is to be used, as well as the ‘do nots’ for how the logo and branding is to be used.

All images from http://www.font.cz/res/data/021/002725.pdf

Advertising

In addition to how McDonald's stores look and how they brand themselves in person, we also wanted to look further into how the company is branded overall, advertising included. We did pretty basic and generic searches for ads, not searching "too hard" because we wanted to keep the results authentic and see ads the way that any other person would see. McDonald's spends millions of dollars a year on ads to promote their food and their name and we want to research how successful their advertising is.

A sea of red! First thing that comes up when you google search "McDonald’s ads" is a bunch of burgers and red. Kind of goes against the whole classy, modern McDonald’s vibe and sticks with a more obnoxious, and definitely more in your face feel. The newer ads seem to have a theme of using the McDonald’s Red (PANTONE 485) with a gradient of a darker tint of the red. The golden arches symbol, in PANTONE 123, are usually located in the lower right hand corner and is typically a single, non-decorated arch.

These ads typically promote burgers and satisfying your hunger, using the bright red and yellow colors. These two colors, to the American culture and people, typically symbolize feelings of hunger. The use of reds triggers stimulation, appetite, hunger, and it attracts attention. Yellow triggers the feelings of happiness and friendliness, which is part of the reason the arch is yellow; it is not only welcoming but can also be seen from very far away. When these two colors are combined together, they send the signal of speed and quickness, which is what McDonald's and fast food is all about.   

Applying the Advertising

These four advertisements are good examples of how the “I’m lovin’ it” slogan put together with the originality of the Big Mac make the ultimate, successful advertisement. The inclusion of the heart in unique ways draws interest directly to the ad while the Big Mac off to the side allows viewers to automatically know what is being advertised and sold. Based on the use of the hearts, when we first viewed the ad, I knew right away it was an “I’m lovin it” ad. McDonald’s has used this slogan paired with their products to further brand themselves and make themselves a household name through more than just their visual arches but also through their catchy slogans and commercials.

Images provided by google search

Taking a Closer Look

As we really dove into our research, the most important part about this study is going into the actual restaurant and seeing how the branding and consistency of the company come together. We choose to pick two McDonald's restaurants in different locations to compare and contrast how McDonald's in the US does in the consistency department.

McDonald's on Westside Saginaw Rd: Exterior

Right off the bat, McDonald's golden arches are the first thing you can see from down the road and the first thing that is present as you pull up to the establishment. The base of the building is an orangey/burnt color that is complimented with the tan stacked stone. This is a very modern and updated looking McDonald’s from what old McDonald's used to look like when we were growing up. While the huge golden arches remain “vintage looking” the building looks sleek and clean, almost too modern to be a fast food restaurant.

McDonald's on Westside Saginaw Rd: Interior

The interior expresses less of the bright reds and yellows and sticks with a more neutral, earth-tone based color scheme. McDonald’s feels more like a restaurant and has more of a welcoming and sit down feel. Seating in this location is plush and comfortable. The images on the wall are modern and visually pleasing opposed to how McDonald’s used to be aimed toward children and fun.

McDonald's on Tittibawassee Rd: Exterior

Much like the other McDonald’s, this site displays the same iconic golden arches paired with the updated, modern facade. This exterior had the same burnt orange brick color but had a flat, white tan stone brick decorative feature. Along with the stone bricks, this McDonald’s also had accents of stainless steel metal with golden trim. This location also really emphasized on their “breakfast all day” ads on the outside of their building.

McDonald's on Tittibawassee Rd: Interior

This interior matches the updated theme of comfort and clean style. The red and yellow colors are muted and done in a tasteful way that is not as “cheap” or tacky as in previous. The white, ultra-modern seating and tables gives this McDonald’s a “higher class” dinning feel. Not only is this McDonald’s modern and classy but it also included a play-place. This is the only portion of the building that stays true to the old McDonald’s filled with fun and aimed toward children. This side of the restaurant was sectioned off from the rest of the building but also contained bright, bold colors that say “McDonald’s”.

Packaging

An important part of branding is how products are packaged and presented. We want to 

research and see how McDonald's packages their food and their products and see how it compares to China and their packaging. We want to compare sizes, prices, and other packaging usages to see how global/international branding applies.

To keep consistency between both the US and China as well as to see if McDonald’s is consistent in branding themselves, we decided we will only order the “number 1” option in any McDonald’s we go to. In the Westside Saginaw Rd. McDonald’s, the #1 was a Big Mac. The regular (size) meal came with the burger, fries, and a drink. The total of the meal was $6.39. The regular drink was 20 oz, the fries container was 4 ½ inches by 5 inches, and the burger was 4 inches across.

Here you can see the use of the bold reds and yellows. The box of the burger looks like
cardboard with bold lettering in the McDonald’s colors as well as the fried having playful, yet retro looking stripes on the inside of the fries container.

This cup, which is considered a large in the US, can hold 32 oz of liquids. The golden arches are present as well as the “McDonald’s” which is in purple, not the main red or yellow color but a color that McDonald’s seems to be using more of.

To the left is a cup with the classic “McCafe” type logo on it. This signage follows the McDonald’s corporate identity book as it is being used to communicate the specific product that this portion of McDonald’s offers as well as showing appropriate color and typeface choices.

Here is another example of McDonald’s Packaging that includes the addition of purple as one of the bolder colors of the packaging. “McFlurry” is the biggest thing written on the cut but instead of it being yellow or red, it is purple.

Uniforms

Not only is food important to the company but the appearance of the employees also lends a helping hand to how the company and particular  restaurant is perceived by the customers. Looks are a huge contributing factor when we are taking into account how our food is being made, the quality of the company, etc.

McDonald's on Westside Saginaw Rd:

This worker is from the McDonald’s on Westside Saginaw. He is wearing a black hat with an embroidered arch on it. His shirt was a red cotton shirt with a white arch and “i’m lovin’ it” written across it. His co-workers were also wearing cotton shirts but in all different colors and with all different images and saying on the front. The manager was wearing a striped button down shirt that did not have a McDonald’s logo on it.

This type of uniform does not look professional in any way and it makes the McDonald's workers look like any other person walking into the restaurant with an McDonald's t-shirt on. These workers are really not very distinguishable from the rest of the costumers and do not look like they take their job seriously when they wear plain t-shirt. These uniforms give this McDonald's a very laid back, super casual feel which kind of contradicts how modern and "fancy" the rest of the restaurant looks.

Employee at Westside Saginaw McDonald's Location

McDonald's on Tittibawassee Rd:

This worker is from the McDonald’s on Tittabawasse Rd. She was also wearing a black hat with an embroidered arch on it. Instead of a cotton shirt, this worker was wearing a polo shirt that was primarily black with red and grey striped going down the front of it. Her co-workers were also wearing the same attire.

This uniform looks much more professional and really shows a separation between the workers and the costumers. Although this uniform doesn't scream the classic McDonald's signs, the polo shirt and hat combo makes the employees look presentable and makes the restaurant look more polished and put together. The was this uniform looks, compliments the updated and modern look of the rest of the restaurant.

Uniform of the employees at the Tittibawasse McDonald's location

After talking to a former McDonald’s worker, it seems that there is little to no consistency when it comes to McDonald’s uniforms from store to store and EVEN from day to day in the same store. This former employee gave me her old work shirts which were cotton shirts, in different colors, with different sayings on them. I asked what she wore these shirts for and she said “these were our Friday shirts. We had the option of wearing them but you didn’t have to if you didn’t want to”. None of the shirts she gave me were the same. They all varied, just like uniform consistency from McDonald’s to McDonald’s.

Compare and Contrast

Looking at both of the restaurants, there are important similarities and differences to be noted. Although both of these establishment are under the same name, “McDonald’s”, the way they present themselves varies in many ways. Aside from having identical huge golden arches at the entrance of the restaurant, these two locations are more different than one would think.

Both restaurants stick to using the Mickey D's classic red and yellow but change how they apply them drastically. The colors are hardly ever used in their full concentration, always tinted to look lighter or darker, allowing the interiors of the restaurants to have a warmer, more welcoming vibe.

Along with the altered reds and yellows, these two locations both used the addition of neutral, earth-toned colors to create a fast food restaurant that made you feel like you wanted to sit and hang out for a while.

Although a small difference, the uniforms that the employees wore also changed from location to location. At the first restaurant (Westside Saginaw Rd), the employees were dressed in black hats and grey polo shirts. At the other location (Tittibawasse Rd) the workers wore a similar black hat with the embroidered logo but their shirts were primarily black with a grey and red stripe going down the center of it.

Unlike previously designed McDonald’s, no two restaurants seem to look the same. Although these two restaurants share the similarity of using a burnt orange painted brick, the type of stone decorative element as well as the addition of stainless steel metal accents keep the restaurants from looking separate from one another.

The only real, noticeable difference between the two locations was that the one on Tittibawasse included a playplace. This area of the restaurant was much more brightly colored than the rest of the building but was also sectioned off and out of the way.

Then vs. Now

Growing up, McDonald’s were aimed at the youngins and really emphasized on the bold reds and yellows. We remember the red roofs and the strangely laid, brown tiled floors. Every McDonald’s you went to looked the same in almost every way. That was not even 10 years ago when McDonald’s had an identity that they stuck to.

Ten years later and McDonald’s has changed from their classic cafeteria look to something that looks and almost feels more comfortable and inviting. The switch from bold, in your face design, to subtle, neutral based colors give the fast food restaurant an updated and classier feel. McDonald’s nowadays feel like a place you can enjoy a nice sit down dinner with your family in a location that looks modern and clean.

Conclusion

Based on what was seen at the restaurants, it is clear to see that modern day, American McDonald’s have an updated look and feel. The exterior as well as the interior are polished and look like nice eat-in restaurants. The old design of having the bright red and yellow be the focal point are long behind these McDonald’s as the feel is based more off of a place you want to feel comfortable in, stay awhile, a place that looks clean and approachable. American McDonald’s have ditched the retro feel for a modern, “higher class” facility.