I'm lovin' it, McDonalds!

It’s snowing on my way back from class. It is cold, it’s late, with work early tomorrow morning; but I need my dinner. Then I saw a big illuminated ‘M’ and immediately thought to myself – “McDonalds to the rescue!” Yes! It’s McDonalds. Quick, cheap and filling! McDonalds is a life-saver, especially if you’re a drunk student coming out of a club late at night. Now even my colleague would vouch for that, as he was still hungry and unsatisfied after a Korean dinner gone wrong. We ordered a seafood hotpot, which had left a lot to be desired. And then, there was McDonalds to the rescue!

McDonalds’ story goes all the way back to 1940 as a barbecue restaurant and it remained the largest fast-food chain restaurant in the world until Subway took over in 2011. McDonald’s is a perfect example of a successful franchise, where only 15% is actually owned by the McDonald's Corporation. The McDonald’s slogan “I'm lovin' it!” is consistent throughout the world along with its logo and the theme. The slogan was created by McDonald's long-term advertising agency Heye & Partners from Unterhaching, Germany. McDonald's sponsors events, uses celebrity spokespersons, and has adapted social and interactive media full-fledgedly by prominently using tools of integrated marketing.

However, the course for McDonald’s hasn’t always been smooth. It has been in the eye of the storm far too many times for its own liking, with a history of numerous lawsuits and controversies. There have also been several instances of McDonald’s taking legal action against any restaurant using the word “Mc”. And quite contrary to my opinion, my father can’t stand the sign of the yellow ‘M’, after seeing its presence nearly everywhere, which he believes is a strong overdose of McDonalds. For all its flaws and lack of finesse, McDonalds is a NYSE listed company that has created more than 400,000 job opportunities, especially for the youths, and almost always saves the day when you’re in a dilemma or can’t find a place to eat!

Fashion loves Celebrities?

As a bonus, for my team performing so well, my office decided to give everyone of us some vouchers to spend at Debenhams worth £85. I found it extremely hard to decide how I'd spend £85 at Debenhams (not my kind fashion)! Finally, ‘eureka’! I thought I'd invest the entire amount in perfumes. Now for £85, I can get myself a bleu de Chanel especially after I saw its commercial featuring Gaspard Ulliel (Ya, the French kid in Hannibal Rising), with the tag line ‘be unexpected’. BOSS also caught my attention and I thought I could buy two perfumes from BOSS after watching Ryan Reynolds in Boss Bottle Day X Night. 

 

 No wonder most famous celebrity endorsements are placed in clothing and fragrances. It is suggested that three components make up the credibility construct: knowledge or expertise, trustworthiness, and appearance or attractiveness when it comes to a celebrity. It is the appearance, which is most appealing to consumers.  Physical appearance seems to induce positive feelings toward the product. In the field of fashion, there is a high correlation between appearance, knowledge, liking, credibility, advertising believability and purchase intentions, which affects the consumers.

Does celebrity endorsement work? It sure does. Consumers feel celebrities are much more attractive than non- celebrities, which intern improve the brand image. The Chanel and BOSS ads were enough to take me to the perfume section of Debenhams.  Did I buy them? No. They didn’t smell anything like I expected it to be.  In fact they smelled too strong for my taste. But I am sure there are many men out there using Chanel and BOSS regularly.

A = Apple Inc

In my class last week (after a good Christmas break), my professor spoke about Apple withdrawing its IPhone 4S' from the Apple Stores in China, not due to low demand, but due to the exploitation by other businesses for selling it in the black market at a much higher price to meet the demand of the Chinese market (Wow! Chinese have money). In fact, the 5 Apple Stores in Beijing and Shanghai stopped selling the product. The suspension of selling the IPhone led to a customer throwing eggs, who was already quite irritated by the late launch of the product in China (which was almost after 3 months).

After researching about the I-Phone 4S issue in China, I got diverted towards the advertising used by Apple. They always focused their ads mainly on creativity and thinking outside the box. Their “Think Different” in the nineties and the “Switch” and “iPod people” in the noughties were significant campaigns. “Think Different” by advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day titled "Crazy Ones" was a sensation showing the world’s prominent figures who made a difference archiving something that changed the world. “Switch” showed a series 30 seconds video of persons switching from Windows to Max.  “IPod people” had a series of ads that focused on the product rather than the people along with dark silhouetted characters against bright-coloured backgrounds.

 

 

Apple, under the leadership of Steve Jobs did manage to change the company profile. Today most of the creative people and businesses use an Apple computer for their work. The words “Think Different” is still the main aim of Apple. I have an Ipod that was gifted to me by my aunt for Christmas in 2009 and is still my best companion when I move around London. Apple did its work on me by impressing me with its product and I am now saving up to get my first Mac.