McDonald's Marketing Plan Analysis

This assignment focuses on analyzing McDonald's marketing plan through a variety of analytical tools. Students are tasked with crafting a marketing plan for McDonald's and then evaluating it using SWOT analysis to identify the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Furthermore, PESTLE analysis is employed to examine the macro-environment impacting McDonald's, while STP analysis delves into market segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies.

Marketing Essential

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PROJECT 2......................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P3 Compare the marketing mix of McDonald's and Burger King.........................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P4 Produce and evaluate a marketing plan for McDonald's...................................................5
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the useful activity through company will able to grow their operations and
functions in systematic way at workplace. In this aspect, present report based on the McDonald's
which is one of the largest fast food chain retailer in the market. The report also includes the
comparative study of marketing mix of McDonald's and the Burger king. It also presents the
marketing plan for McDonald's which include the SWOT, PESTLE, STP analysis to evaluate the
marketing plan of McDonald's.
PROJECT 2
TASK 1
P3 Compare the marketing mix of McDonald's and Burger King
The marketing mix of two fast food chains like McDonald's and the Burger King is done
to compare their marketing planning. This marketing mix includes the price, product, place,
promotion, process, people and the physical evidence.
McDonald's is a restaurant started by two brothers Richard and Maurice in California
USA in year 1937. The restaurant currently open in 121 countries which has more than 30000
restaurants (Staton, 2016). They are providing their services to 53 million people in the world
every day. The reason of the success of McDonald's is there low prices, fast services and
cleanliness in work. Marketing mix of McDonald's is defined to make the marketing plans which
help in achieving the objectives.
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Figure 1 McDonald's
(Source: McDonald’s, 2017)
 Product: The products of McDonald's are designed in such a manner so it takes care
about the sentiments of customers towards their religion and their culture. They produce
both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food products. Vegetarian products includes veg
surprise, salad sandwich, Mc potato stuffed burger, Mc veggie burger, French fries, veg
Mc puff, chocolate ice creams and the non vegetarian items includes the Mc chicken
burger, chicken Mc grill, Fi let of fish, warp chicken Mexican, chicken king burger and
many more. It has separate cooking areas and materials for Vegetarian food products and
for non-vegetarian food products (Constantinides, E., 2006). Take care the dietary
substances in food. They also provide coffee and soft drinks as per the needs of
customers. They attract customers by providing combos of products of different
prices.Price: The prices of products of McDonald's are very affordable to customers. The
pricing strategies are including the offering the combos like medium combos which
includes the soft drinks small French fries and burger and the large combos includes the
large size of soft drinks etc. this are provided in very affordable prices. The prices of veg
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and non-veg burger is very low which is the most popular product of McDonald's.Place:
McDonald's restaurants are located in prime locations in UK and they are in all most all
cities. Their main locations are in residential areas and in mall. They are easily identified
by its logo.Promotions: The target customers of McDonald's is the kids and the young
generations. The products of McDonald's are well known by peoples. They are promoted
through different media like televisions, hoardings, social media, etc. they provide happy
meal which is good way to attract customers (Yadav, 2014). They organize lucky draw
system and scratch card system which provided products in less price or free combos.
The promotions online is the best way to promote the products globally.People: The
employees in McDonald's are provided stars when perform best. The take suggestions
from their employees while taking the decisions which motivates their employees.
Effective trainings is provided to employees of McDonald's to increase their efficiency
and for producing quality products. The employees are so much trained in their work
which make them work fast and also work by taking hygiene measures. The employees
of McDonald's have the dress code which provide standard to the brand and also provide
sense of responsibilities to the employees. Their employees includes the restaurant
managers and other workers. The marking manager are employee who have high tech
knowledge for analysing market and also for making plans.
 Physical evidences: McDonald's main aim is to provide the good quality products to
their customers and food product must be healthy for the customers. McDonald's focus
on the cleanliness and hygiene factors of their restaurants and the restaurants must be
attractive interiors. The employees must have to maintain a decorum in the
restaurant.Process: The production process of McDonald's is familiar with the customers.
The fast food joints allow the customers of McDonald's products to evaluate their
hygiene factors by allowing them to enter in the area where the production process is
taken place. The customers are invited by the joint to check the ingredients used in food.
Above is the explanation of marketing mix of McDonald's now we compare it with
marketing mix of Burger King. Burger King is another fast food company which provides fast
food products to the customers. It is operating in 71 countries in worldwide. The first restaurant
is open in the Miami in 1954. The marketing mix of Burger king Company is as
follows:Products: The products of burger king include the hamburger, cheese burgers, fries,
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salads, hash browns. Onion rings, coffee, juice, shakes, biscuits and pies. Burger king provide
fries or onion rings, ketchup, mustard, cheese, bacon, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and pickles
with each order (Joseph, 2015). They provide the best coffee to their customers. The products in
burger king are less than the products in McDonald's which has wide varieties of food products
in veg as well as in non-veg. Burger king provide many things with each order but McDonald's
not provide such services. The coffee of burger king have wide varieties such as plain, vanilla or
mocha flavours and with wiped toppings but McDonald's provide the other types of food
products like Mc veg puff etc. and also the chocolate ice creams.Price: The pricing strategies
used in burger king is not so efficient then the McDonald's. They provide slushy drinks in $1
which an alternative to the $1 summers drink of McDonald's. Their pricing policy to offer $1
double cheese than McDonald's is make reductions in the profits of their franchisees.
McDonald's has better pricing policy than the burger king.Place: the burger king operations
takes place under the franchise arrangements. Franchisee invest in making available the
buildings, interiors, equipment etc. burger king main income sources are sales of food products
in restaurants, royalties and franchise fees and property incomes from franchises. McDonald's
operates in the prime locations, residential areas and in malls but burger king operates as a
franchise.Promotions: The promotion techniques used in McDonald's and in burger king are
very different from each other. Burger king organises talent shows for their customers to show
their talents through video's which submitted by them with the aim to win any menu item. They
organise promotional tours and create special websites (Hall, C. M., 2011). The promotion
policies of McDonald's is includes the online promoting to cover large number of customers
which requires small amount of investments but the promotional strategies of burger king is
more costly.Process: The process of manufacturing McDonald's products are analysed by the
customers and the ingredients are also known by the customers. But in burger king the process is
not familiar to the customers (Marketing theories - the Marketing Mix from 4 PS to 7 PS. 2015).
They are only known by their employees which make the customers to belief on the McDonald's
more than the burger king.
Physical evidences: Both burger kings and McDonald's are available online through their
websites. They upload the pictures of their new products to aware the customers about their new
products. McDonald's take care about the online presences and also take care on cleanliness and
on hygiene factors.People: The burger king Chief executive officer is John W. chiseley who
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appoint highly qualified marketing managers for promoting their products efficiently. Both
McDonald's and burger king has fast customers services. The McDonald's have better customers
services then the burger king. In burger king the customers have wait for their order but in
McDonald's customers has given a drinks while their order is getting ready.
TASK 2
P4 Produce and evaluate a marketing plan for McDonald's
McDonald's is a well-known brand in the world it provides good quality food products to
their customers. The marketing plans for the McDonald's is very essential to achieve their
various objectives (Kilkenny, S., 2009). The objectives of McDonald's help the making the plans
and it also helps in measuring weather plan is working or not. The marketing plan defined the
marketing operations and the resources which are used to perform the operations. Marketing
objectives of McDonald's includes the followings:
 Increase the sales: The main aim of McDonald's is to increase sales of their food
products by attracting more customers to purchase their food products. The quality of
their food products and innovation in taste of food items improved sales.
 Brand awareness: The marketing is done to make the brand popular in market. In
McDonald's the main function of marketing is to build the brand image in the market.
The McDonald's marketing departments make the promotional tools so effective which
create the good image of brand among the customers.
 To grow market share : The marketing research is a function of marketers of
McDonald's which is conducted to understand the requirements of market and make the
policies according to the research to grow their market share.
 Launch new food products: McDonald's always produces new food products according
to the needs of the customers and they also make efficient plans to promote their new
products.
 Target new customers: Their main target is not only the existing customers but they also
conduct market survey to target the new customers. McDonald's not only popular in kids
and young generations but now they offer family meal which attracts full family.

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 Internationalisation: The digital marketing in McDonald's aware the customers of world
about their products and about the near location of McDonald's restaurants in their city.
 Improve relationships with stakeholders: The marketing department of McDonald's
maintain coordination with their stakeholders which includes the marketing partners and
customers.
The above are the main objectives for the McDonald's which help in maintain the
effective marketing plans. The marketing plan of McDonald's includes
 Executive summary: McDonald's is a fast food restaurant started by two brothers
Richard and Maurice in 1937 in California. This is a restaurant which provides varieties
of food products veg and non-veg both.
 Mission statements of McDonald’s: “To provide quality services, and values to the
customers in every restaurant”.
 Vision statements of McDonald’s: “To be the world's best quick service fast food
restaurant”.
 Standards of performances: McDonald’s to provide wide varieties of food products to
the customers as per their needs. It is one of the popular fast food company who serves
more than 53 million people in the world.
 Core competencies: special features off McDonald's is they take care about cleanliness
while making food and their fast services. They invite their customers to monitor their
cooking process and to check their ingredients. The customer's trust and loyalty towards
the brand is the power of McDonald's.
 Situational analysis: It includes the Swot analysis of McDonald's to identify its
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (Dyson, R.G., 2004).
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Figure 2 SWOT analysis
(Source: 14 free SWOT analysis templates, 2016)
Strengths:Well-known
brand.
 53+ million customers in the world.
 Successful items like happy meal, fries,
Big Mac, Egg Mc Muffins.
 Global market.
 Good financial position.
 Weaknesses:
 Reducing market share.
 Reduction in product development.
 Slow revenues and incomes.
Opportunities:
 Internationalisation.
 Joint ventures with supermarkets.
 Respond to social changes like culture,
tastes etc.
 Focus on corporate social
responsibilities.
 By providing offers to customers.
 Threats:
 Huge amount competition in market.
 More Health consciousness among
customers.
 Change in exchange rates.
 Recession in economies affect the
markets.
STP analysis: it includes the segmentation, targeting and the positioning of the McDonald's.
 Market segmentation of McDonald's is done on the basis of the demographic, geographic
and psych graphic segmentation. Demographic segmentation is done on the basis of age,
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gender, income and occupation (Hollensen, S., 2015). Psych graphic segmentation on the
basis of psychology, behaviour and religion of the customers and also includes the user
status and usage rate. Targeting: Target customers of McDonald's is kids and the young
generation. The markets are also targeting families with the happy meal offers.
Positioning: The positioning strategies used in McDonald's is product positioning which
is developed to maintain good quality of products and the other strategy is cost leadership
strategy to reduces the cost of their food products.
4 P s of market includes: It includes the 4 P s that is price, product, promotion and place.Price:
McDonald's keep the price of their products which are affordable to their customers. Pricing
strategy of McDonald's included combined activities through they can implement creative results
at workplace. It is the best way through company will offer meals and other products as well at
discounting price. This element of McDonald's marketing mix also allow to create several
importance at workplace in systematic manner. Products: Wide varieties of vegetarian and non-
vegetarian products are produced by McDonald's. In this regard, company determines their
several elements such as chicken and fish, beverages, desserts and shakes, McCafe, Breakfast,
etc. Primary it was known for the burgers only but nowadays they are providing different
elements to produce effective functioning. Promotion: The effective promotional techniques are
used in McDonald’s like digital marketing, creating websites, television ads, hoardings etc.
Advertisement of the company is the most suitable element on which they can capture large
amount of customers in systematic way. Furthermore, TV, radio, other things also ascertain to
capture the effective results at workplace. Direct selling is the crucial advantages in which
McDonald's emphasis to promote their products and services. Place: The restaurants of
McDonald's are located in the prime locations. In the different areas of the world, the company
providing their products and services in systematic manner to that they can easily demonstrate
functions to cater effective results. Main places where the company deals are restaurants, kiosk,
mobile apps, etc. With the help of restaurants, the company able to generate more sales and
revenue in systematic manner.
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PESTLE analysis:
Figure 3 PESTLE analysis
(Source: Scanning the Environment: PESTLE Analysis, 2016)
◦ Political factor: McDonald's considers the positive impact of political environment.
Some political factor that affects a company as follows:
▪ Increment in international trade and trend agreement
▪ tax reformation
▪ Evaluating public health plans and policies
▪ McDonald has big opportunities that they can enhance a business in the market by
international trend and trade.
◦ Economic factor: This Company has big opportunities to grow in the industry. There
are some factors that affect the firm as follows:
▪ Stable but risky growth in the European market
▪ Slow growth in other economy
◦ Social factor: this factor has positive impact on an entity (Yüksel, İ., 2012). Some
external social factor that affects an overall performance as follows:
▪ Wealth gap
▪ increment in cultural diversity
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◦ Technological factor: some external factor that affects a company such as moderate
activity of R&D in the market, high technology and increment in sales through
devices etc.
◦ Environmental factor: higher interest for business environmental program,
increment and changes in business strategies are the external factor that affect entity
performance.
◦ Legal factor: McDonald's faces different types of threats such as minimum wages
which leads to increase cost and price of the product. New legal wages plans and
policies, animal welfare rules and regulations affect entity performance.
CONCLUSION
From the comparison of marketing mix of McDonald's and the marketing mix of burger
king it is concluded that marketing strategies of McDonald's is better than burger king to some
extent. The marketing plan is prepared for McDonald's and then that marketing plan is evaluated
with the help on SWOT, PESTLE and STP analysis. In which SWOT analysis determined the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of McDonald's. PESTLE analysis the macro
environment of McDonald's.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals.
Constantinides, E., 2006. The marketing mix revisited: towards the 21st century
marketing. Journal of marketing management, 22(3-4), pp.407-438.
Dyson, R.G., 2004. Strategic development and SWOT analysis at the University of
Warwick. European journal of operational research, 152(3), pp.631-640.
Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Joseph, W. B. and et.al., 2015. Measuring Internet Marketing Productivity: A Study of Fortune
1,000 Companies. In Proceedings of the 1999 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS)
Annual Conference (pp. 410-414). Springer International Publishing.
Staton, M. G., 2016. Improving student job placement and assessment through the use of digital
marketing certification programs. Marketing Education Review. 26(1). pp. 20-24.
Yadav, M. S. and Pavlou, P.A., 2014. Marketing in computer-mediated environments: Research
synthesis and new directions. Journal of Marketing. 78(1). pp. 20-40.
Yüksel, İ., 2012. Developing a multi-criteria decision making model for PESTEL
analysis. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(24), p.52.
Online
Marketing theories - the Marketing Mix from 4 PS to 7 PS. 2015. [Online]. Available
through :<https://www.professionalacademy.com/blogs-and-advice/marketing-theories---
the-marketing-mix---from-4-p-s-to-7-p-s>.
McDonald’s, 2017. [Online]. Available through :< https://image.slidesharecdn.com/mcdonalds-
120123043935-phpapp01/95/mc-donalds-2-728.jpg?cb=1327294230>.
Scanning the Environment: PESTEL Analysis, 2016. [Online]. Available through:<
http://www.business-to-you.com/scanning-the-environment-pestel-analysis/>.
14 free SWOT analysis templates, 2016. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.smartsheet.com/14-free-swot-analysis-templates>.
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