Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Quarter Pounder: The Store! (part 2)

The McChronicles recently reported on a very focused store called QUARTER POUNDER. This very unique McDonald's has only two items on the menu: quarter pounder with cheese and double quarter pounder with cheese (you can also buy fries and beverages). There are 2 QUARTER POUNDERs, both in Tokyo.

Readers wanted to know WHAT? and WHY? So, The McChronicles investigated. Here is what we learned.

According to a plugged-in McDonald's insider, "This is creative buzz marketing. The CEO of McDonald's Japan is passionate about innovation, new thinking and breakthrough marketing."

The McChronicles' source added that McDonald's:
  • is about to launch the quarter pounder as a McDonald's branded product (currently quarter pounders are not sold in Japan). This is pre launch buzz. The burger and the brand will soon be reunited.
  • wanted to create a buzz around the burger and its name beforehand the product was launched.
  • had two McDonald's restaurants in key shopping streets in Tokyo which are about to close due to their leases ending. So, for their final days they created the "Quarter Pounder Store".
It is very interesting to note that these stores are unique restaurants that have no McDonald's branding. McDonald's built up customer interest for pedestrians by putting up boarding with peep holes so people could see some of the activity going on inside. Then, when they finally pulled the boarding down there was a store selling nothing but quarter pounders; still with no McDonald's branding, even on the fry box that came with the meals.

The result was huge lines - and the quarter pounder became "the thing to try".

The McChronicles is told that the making of the link between this new hamburger and McDonald's will occur at the official launch.

The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's
Images:
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous11/19/2008

    Well, I think there is still some merit to my earlier comments but at the same time I believe that this is some pretty innovative marketing.

    Good job getting the story on this one!

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  2. elo11/19/2008

    This is so weird, especially since I was just reading about McDonald's on Dr. Tantillo's marketing blog, where he praises McD for being so flexible and adapting to demand but prefaced this with: "The big things about McDonald’s cosmetic image (i.e., colors, designs, clown mascot) have never essentially changed. Neither has the basic serving and restaurant setup."
    Guess they are even more flexible though... Tantillo's full post

    And actually I guess cultivating this sort of aesthetic is in line with their move to diversify their holdings (they own a significant portion of Chipotle, or did last I knew) and expand/diversify their customer base (Ex. their 'unsnobby coffee' campaign. Tantillo did a post on
    Starbucks/Dunkin' Donuts mentioning McDonald's coffee, too. It might be smarter to keep these stores as they are..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3/19/2009

    I live in Japan and let me tell you, people love this place. It's kind of like 1950's fast food discovery like in the USA. And no, people aren't being corrupted by our food, they still remain normal weight or below.

    ReplyDelete
  4. PENNY STOCK INVESTMENTS1/03/2014

    Remakable progress

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dylan12/20/2021

    Hi thanks for posting this

    ReplyDelete