Brand Strategy of McDonald: Emotion, Symbolic Meaning, and Brand Equity

This report delves into the brand strategy of McDonald, examining emotions and symbolic meaning associated with the brand. It also explores brand equity, brand communication, and brand performance. The report concludes that McDonald has a strong global brand image and sufficient brand equity to drive consistent performance.

RUNNING HEAD: Marketing 0
McDonald
Brand strategy

Marketing 1
Executive summary
The brand strategy defines what an organization stands for. It is a promise made by the
company. It is a formal plan used to create appearance of the company in the mind-set of the
consumers. This report includes the brand strategy of the McDonald which is US based fast
food chain serving globally. In order to define brand strategy of McDonald, emotions and
symbolic meaning has been defined. The report also includes the brand culture and brand
equity. Finally the communication used by the company has been also defined along with the
performance of the brand over the years.
Finally it can be concluded that McDonald is having a robust brand image globally. The
brand equity is sufficient enough to improve performance on the regular basis.

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Contents
Executive summary...............................................................................................................................1
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Emotion.................................................................................................................................................3
Symbolic meaning of the brand.............................................................................................................4
Cultural meaning of the brand...............................................................................................................4
Brand equity..........................................................................................................................................5
Brand communication...........................................................................................................................6
Brand performance................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The brand strategy is a plan which comprises precise and long term goals which can be
attained with the advancement of a popular brand. It is a plan to create a specific image in the
mind of the current and potential customers. The brand strategy drives the buying decisions
of the customers. A well-defined brand strategy puts impact on all the aspects of a business
and openly associated to the consumer needs, emotions and the competitive environment.
This report includes the brand strategy of McDonald which is a chain of fast food restaurants.
Some aspects are covered in the report regarding emotion, symbolic and cultural meaning of
the brand. The brand equity, brand communication and brand performance have been also
covered in the report concerning McDonald.
Emotion
McDonald induces familiar emotions and memories through the new campaign. The
company has always adopted a customer centric approach and worked towards constant
customer engagement. McDonald adapts market strategies as per the varying needs of the
customers. The company makes sure that its messaging remains relevant and appealing all the
time. The campaign of the brand aims to emphasize the positive emotions which attract
customers towards company. The campaign aims to communicate ‘Simple Easy Enjoyment’
by offering a food experience which is seamless, delightful and differentiated (Klostermann,
et al. 2018).
McDonald tries to connect emotions of the customers by understanding their emotions. It is
because the company take customer back with them. The company engages customers by
evoking familiar, happy emotions and memories associated to the visits at McDonald. The
food research is also conducted by the company in order to connect emotionally with the
customers. People who visit restaurant are requested to share their stories and the food
experience they had at the restaurant. They are also speaking to share the menu items
preferred by them. A moment’s map is created which contains the popular menu items
(Veloutsou & Guzman, 2017). The customers also feel delighted when they are asked to
cherish moments with the loved ones regarding favourite products.

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Symbolic meaning of the brand
M stands for McDonald’s and the golden arches deliberate mummy’s mammaries. The
arches were part of the company’s design. It is one of the most prevalent things on the earth.
The company ensures the visibility of its brand. The company has most of the recognized
logos in the world. The logo of McDonald can be easily identified by anyone worldwide. It
has to be considered that the logo of restaurant has important part in generating its brand
image. The logo is the essential part of the brand distinctiveness of the company and it holds
the foremost part of the brand (Bouwmans, 2017).
The logo of the restaurant is the constituent of the constructed architecture of first restaurant
in 1952. The brand logo was combined of the two arches in order to form the innovative logo
which looks like letter ‘M’. This logo has endured brand identity of the restaurant for more
than 50 years. Mainly golden and red colours are used as main colours in the logo (King,
2017). The golden colour presents popular arches of the main franchised restaurant whereas
the red colour signifies food industry of the same company. The collaboration of both the
colours forms inordinate brand identity of McDonald (Sääksjärvi, et al. 2015).
Cultural meaning of the brand
McDonald is one of the most universal brands of the world. The company welcomes
customers belonging to every culture, age and background. It has the strongest corporate
culture. McDonald has even proudly invested in the people and the success of the company
relies on the crew. The crew is made up of suppliers and community. The company has
maintained specific rules and regulations of how it should be carried on. McDonald tries to
offer unique quality, cleanliness, values and service to the customers. The trained team of the
company serves in the best manner to the customers. The people of the company are
committed and encouraged for team building and team work. The company sets out features
of the business with reliability and honesty. It considers in celebrating achievement and

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pursues to higher goals. The company is highly dedicated to the expectations and satisfaction
of the customers (Shabbir, 2018).
McDonald is engaged in transforming awareness into action. The objective of the company is
to improve performance of the organisation and live to reach full potential. The performance
based rewards are given to the employees which offers platform to the employees in order to
reach their full potential. The company has enabled rules in the culture for the good health.
Brand equity
The brand equity of McDonald is made up of the brand awareness, association, loyalty, asset
and element. The brand is ranked on the sixth position as the world’s most significant brand.
McDonald is most visited fast food. The restaurant has also created equity in the form of
most inexpensive restaurant. The presence of the company across several channels for the
advertising has enabled in creating brand awareness (Dwivedi, Johnson, & McDonald, 2015).
The restaurant is extensively associated with the brand due to the product category like fast
food, fries and burger. The brand is associated with the cheap meals which are quite
affordable to the customers. McDonald has an extensive branding through associations and
sponsorship with the entities like Olympics and FIFA (Kunkel, et al. 2016). It has assisted
company in enhancing visibility in the international market. The restaurant has been
successful in attaining brand loyalty from the customers for its fries and meals. People who
regular visit the restaurant do not prefer to switch to other restaurants due to the authentic
taste of the burgers. The company has also introduced fried chicken and several variants if the
burger in order to retain customers. The customers also like to enjoy new meals offered by
the restaurant (Gensler, et al. 2015).
McDonald is also one of the powerful brands in the globe. The assets of the company
comprise employees and the secret recipe of the sausages and burger patties. The shakes
offered by the McDonald are also preferred by the restaurant (Steenkamp, 2017). When it
comes to brand equity then the company has put emphasis on the brand elements. The
restaurant focuses on retaining its brand image sue to increasing competition in the food
industry on the international level. The advertisements are broadcasted by the company in
every country as per the local customs (Arbouw, Ballantine & Ozanne, 2019).

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Brand communication
McDonald is one of the best brands in the world. The company uses marketing strategies to
communicate with the customers. The advertisement and sale promotion are mainly used by
McDonald. The creativity and uniqueness of the brand is in its print and media advertising.
McDonald has propelled ‘Easy morning’ print which contained tagline ‘everything is not as
easy as breakfast at McDonalds’. The restaurant spends significant amount of financial
resources for the print and media advertising. The viral marketing has significant role in
terms of broadcasting marketing message in the target market (McDonald, 2007).
The sales promotion is another technique to be used by the company. There is a great list of
the sales promotions started by the company comprising free breakfast delivery promotion as
per the mobile proposals (Polman, et al. 2005).
Brand performance
The improvement in the consumer perceptions has assisted company to improve sales in the
last 6 years. The restaurant has premiumised its menu offering and initiated a range of
signature sandwiches and fresh cooked burgers. McDonald has even become leader in the fast
food industry with the focus on the customer service, competition level and usage of the
marketing techniques. This brand is serving more than 30, 000 restaurants worldwide. The
brand has been successful in driving 80% of the revenue from eight countries such as Brazil,
Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, UK and USA. The restaurant has transformed
the fast food industry by offering the innovative fast food menu (Luxton, Reid, & Mavondo,
2015). The usage of the technology by the brand time to time has helped in gaining
competitive advantage.
Conclusion
McDonald is an established organization when it comes to the usage of the brand strategy.
The restaurant has been successful in inducing familiar emotions and memories through the
new campaign. a customer centric approach has been used by the restaurant to connect
emotionally with the customers. Such campaigns helped in knowing the preferences of the
customers regarding food. The logo is the brand identity of the restaurant. it is most popular
among the kids and youngsters. The restaurant has been successful in maintaining the
corporate culture through its employees. McDonald welcomes to people from every culture
and like to make changes in the menu s per their prefer ability. The brand awareness,

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association, loyalty, asset and element made up of the brand equity of McDonald. The
advertising and sales promotions are the communication tools to be used by the brand. The
brand has improved its performance time to time and increasing number of the restaurants
represents its increasing performance.

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References
Arbouw, P., Ballantine, P. W., & Ozanne, L. K. (2019). Sustainable brand image: an
examination of ad–brand incongruence. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.
Bouwmans, M. W. H. A. (2017). The new logo of McDonald's-I'm lovin'it? The influence of
high vs. low context communication style on the effect of verbal anchoring in a new
logo on brand attitude and purchase intention.
Dwivedi, A., Johnson, L. W., & McDonald, R. E. (2015). Celebrity endorsement, self-brand
connection and consumer-based brand equity. Journal of Product & Brand
Management, 24(5), 449-461.
Gensler, S., Völckner, F., Egger, M., Fischbach, K., & Schoder, D. (2015). Listen to your
customers: Insights into brand image using online consumer-generated product
reviews. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 20(1), 112-141.
King, C. (2017). Brand management–standing out from the crowd: A review and research
agenda for hospitality management. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management, 29(1), 115-140.
Klostermann, J., Plumeyer, A., Böger, D., & Decker, R. (2018). Extracting brand information
from social networks: Integrating image, text, and social tagging data. International
Journal of Research in Marketing, 35(4), 538-556.
Kunkel, T., Doyle, J. P., Funk, D. C., Du, J., & McDonald, H. (2016). The development and
change of brand associations and their influence on team loyalty over time. Journal of
Sport Management, 30(2), 117-134.
Luxton, S., Reid, M., & Mavondo, F. (2015). Integrated marketing communication capability
and brand performance. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), 37-46.
McDonald, M. (2007). Malcolm McDonald on marketing planning: understanding marketing
plans and strategy. Kogan Page Publishers.
Polman, C. H., Reingold, S. C., Edan, G., Filippi, M., Hartung, H. P., Kappos, L., ... &
Sandberg‐Wollheim, M. (2005). Diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis: 2005

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revisions to the “McDonald Criteria”. Journal of the American Neurological
Association and the Child Neurology Society, 58(6), 840-846.
Sääksjärvi, M., van den Hende, E., Mugge, R., & van Peursem, N. (2015). How exposure to
logos and logo varieties fosters brand prominence and freshness. Journal of Product
& Brand Management, 24(7), 736-744.
Shabbir, M. S. (2018). Innovation Strategy of McDonald Business from Historical
perspectives. Innovative Journal of Business and Management, 7(12), 30-41
Steenkamp, J. B. (2017). Global Brand Equity. In Global Brand Strategy (pp. 243-273).
Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Veloutsou, C., & Guzman, F. (2017). The evolution of brand management thinking over the
last 25 years as recorded in the Journal of Product and Brand Management. Journal of
Product & Brand Management, 26(1), 2-12.