McDonald's farm tie-up should shift brand perception
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McDonald’s plan to use its London 2012 Olympic Games sponsorship to raise awareness of British agriculture and its role in providing produce for the event could help shift negative perceptions of the fast-food brand, say experts.
McDonald’s will feature British farms in its national television advertising ahead of the Games and aims to promote the farms’ best practice in standards and welfare.
Plans include a scheme to open the gates of some of its supplier farms, which will also be providing meals for athletes, organisers and spectators at the London 2012 Games.
McDonald’s UK chief executive Steve Easterbrook says: “People are very interested in what they eat, so we want our scheme to resonate withthe transparency they demand, showing that we are a relevant sponsor of the Games. Our communications will show the quality of our food using natural, local ingredients, which we hope will ease the natural suspicions of consumers.”
The company says it wants to help British farmers by becoming their “marketing department”. The campaign will be UK-centric, but could be taken abroad nearer to the start of the Olympics.
According to an earlier study by brand consultancy Sundance, consumers found McDonald’s involvement in London 2012 “especially jarring” because the company did not seem an authentic fit for the sporting celebration.
Sally Mathie, a director at Sundance London, says the farming initiative could ease these concerns.
“It could provide that necessary hook for McDonald’s, helping to avoid the more rational disconnect between ’junk food’ and sporting excellence.
The brand could focus on the more positive and nutritional ’foody’ values that are evoked through the British farmers’ sourceability message.”
However, Bert Moore, chief strategy officer at Lowe & Partners brand consultancy, says the campaign lacks the sporting context Olympics sponsors should focus on.
“For a brand to associate itself with the pinnacle of sport - the Olympics - these are irrelevant initiatives, especially when its reputation is not in tune with the Olympic ideal. It’s a bit tactless.”
Easterbrook says it continues to encourage sports among children, but also wants to celebrate its supply chain, which has had to meet “exacting benchmarks” set by the Games organisers.
YouGov Insight:
· One in four consumers from the Midlands and the South, and one in three men aged 16-24 will eat out in order to shirk the washing up for one evening.
· 15% cannot afford to eat as healthily as they used to and 10% can no longer afford to buy organic.
Readers' comments (7)
James Abdool | Wed, 19 May 2010 12:02 pm
McDonald's use the highest quality produce and ingredients in the food it serves. As well as providing employment to a large number of staff, their involvement in the community is vast so we should try and see the positives. After all, we all have choices for the food we decide to buy and let's not forget about moderation for those intent on slating the McDonald's menu without doing their homework on its true nutrition. I am pleased to see them backing the Olympics and welcome this initiative.
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Francesca Baker | Wed, 19 May 2010 12:18 pm
I think this could be a welcome shift in the whole perception of health, diet and exercise. McDonalds is not all bad, and excessive sport not all good - it's all about balance, and hopefully this will educate children in the right way, rather than suggesting that there is a straight choice between eating a burger and thus being fat and unhealthy, or eating lettuce, running 10 miles and being healthy.
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John King | Wed, 19 May 2010 12:25 pm
The man has a point, but at the same time I have seen other sporting events sponsored by McDonald's, one such example was an Olympic wrestling tournament I participated in where one of the heavyweights sported a leotard bearing the golden arches logo on the back. The association between 'largeness' and McDonald's was instantaneous among everyone I spoke to at the match. I appreciate they're trying to be better... But by god do they have a long way to go. I doubt Olympic sponsorship, at least on this occasion, is going to do much to reposition their brand image.
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Sonya Smithstone | Wed, 19 May 2010 12:25 pm
That's rubbish, they are just desperatly trying to give themselves this image of being all healthy but it will not work if they do not change their food, which is still fatty and greasy and disgusting. They also need to be more transparent with their ingredients, as I am not inclined to think that they even source from British farms.
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joshna maharaj | Wed, 19 May 2010 2:39 pm
There is no way at all that Mcdonald's actually uses the highest quality produce and ingredients in the food it serves. Mcdonald's alone is responsible for massive feedlots both in north and south america. and these feedlots are producing lots of jacked up, cheap beef.
This uk 2012 agriculture campaign is nothing more than marketing hype. the Mcdonald's guy even said it himself: "we want our scheme to resonate with the transparency [that our customers] demand". he went further to say that this is just about the "communication" that's going out. Mcdonald's isn't changing anything about the way they make their food. they're just coming up with a new story to tell about it. they are no more inappropriate a sponsor of these games as they were of the past two games. don't believe the hype.
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Kristy Richards | Wed, 19 May 2010 4:53 pm
As a global brand McDonalds strives to localize as much as possible through menus such as the McArabia, ingredients such as skin on chips in Thailand, and communications strategies supporting local sports clubs and communities. None of this will completely shake off the US heritage in consumer eyes, but it helps. The move to support British Farmers is on strategy, but could actually raise the question among consumers about where the beef came from before if it wasn’t home grown? From a CSR perspective they’re supporting local communities, reducing freight miles and using fresher ingredients, but these are not significant enough to really shift their CSR values in the eyes of the consumer. Becoming the food of the athletes is clearly aimed to change perception that burgers are not that unhealthy – a strategy which will take a lot of convincing to the mainstream – and indeed to sports enthusiasts themselves.
The link with the British Farmers Association will raise awareness of British beef no end, especially with promotion across all the branches. It’s a very strong B2B message, showing McD’s as a global brand investing in the British economy, further endorsed by Lord Coe, boosting their credibility in business, but will wash over the consumer.
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Anonymous | Sun, 24 Oct 2010 7:42 pm
There is nothing good about Mc Donalds. I am tired of picking up their fast food cartons from hedgerows, thrown there by people infected by the sad Mc D food culture. Long live the Soil Association and all it stands for.
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