McDonalds has been one of the leading names in the sector of fast-food joints globally. With changing time, the brand keeps on innovating and adapting to new trends and marketing strategies to stay in the marketplace. One of the best strategies employed by the brand was of enhancing the brand image with the help of right Public Relations (PR) campaigns. To revamp its image and increase customer engagement, Mc-D has tailored several successful PR campaigns to maintain its dominance in the Fast-food world.

Public Relations (PR) marketing is one of the most effective and impactful strategy employed by various brands to stay relevant and strong in the marketplace. It helps to boost brands’ image through various media channels and reach the target audience with ease. In present scenario, every other brand invests heavily on great PR to attain successful results and present the audience to a better brand image.

Story of the Brand McDonalds

Established in 1950s by Ray Kroc in Illinois, United States was a fast-food joint catering to serve Burgers and fries mainly. Around 1960s-70s it began its global expansion and started entering new lands such as Canada, New Zealand and many other countries. With Globalization came several challenges which the brand understood carefully, then undertook careful marketing strategies to gain trust of people and localize the brand to new cultures and Lands to attract customers. This submission to new PR strategies according to each country was what made people trust the brand and its supply. In present time, the brand now has more than 36,000 franchises all over the world across 100 countries.

Challenges McDonalds

As soon as the brand entered global market, it realized that not every country or customer as a matter of fact will cater to what they serve. The brand had to gain new customers in a completely foreign land with new culture and ideologies. The brand also suffered major backlash for promoting unhealthy food in the lives of its customers. It was tagged as ‘outdated’ at one point when the customers were now into new fast-food brands such as Wendy’s, Burger king and much more.

PR Marketing strategies Implemented by the brand

1. Cultural Relevant Campaigns- To enter the culturally diverse lands such as India, the brand undertook different approach for marketing to stay in the market place. Through innovation, culture relevant approach and food offerings, McDonalds designed its Indian campaign unlike the American one. To keep the brand culturally relevant, McDonalds introduced festival themed treats and campaigns to promote the brand image.

2. Health conscious Campaigns- For facing a backlash for promoting junk food in diet of its consumers, McDonalds designed its Healthy campaign to regain trust of its consumers. With introducing the idea of Fresh produce in its kitchen, bringing in salads and providing Artificial preservatives free food, McDonalds amplified its image through this health-conscious campaign.

3. Affordable Menu- To cater to new cultures, countries and understanding that every country has a different economic landscape, they priced their menu at a decent range and introduced and promoted the idea of ‘Value Meal’ to make sure that the customers believe in the affordability aspect of the brand and attract customers from middle class.

4. Media Promotion- With the help of several collaborations with influencers, actors or big media personalities, McDonalds attracted its customers through this campaign. The brand customized its meals with the name of the actors such as the ‘Kartik Aryan Meal’, ‘BTS Meal’ etc to boost customer engagement.

Key takeaways-

McDonalds has become a prominent name in the Fast-food joints all over the world trusted by its customer for more than a decade. Despite being such a huge name, the brand faced several challenges due to globalization. To remain in the market and maintain customer loyalty, the brand amplified it’s PR game by listening to customer concerns through well-thought strategies and relevant PR campaigns. With changing market trends, the brand enhanced its image in the market with vision-driven individualized PR campaigns.