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Posted by William Bostwick | 11 Nov 2008
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Comments (7)
News from Tokyo of a couple no-logo McDonald's opening up early this month. No weird clowns, no golden arches, no...anything really, just a black storefront with red trim and a big burger in the window. Taking a cue from In-n-Out, the menu's exactly two items long: quarter-pounder and double quarter-pounder. Further proof that red, black, and white is the king of all corporate color schemes, from Coke to the Nazis. Check the new website here.
Comments
If their menu has only two items, where are all those drinks and french fries coming from?
Actually, I believe this is a limited time campaign only and this is not McDonald's transforming at all. Two things lead me to this: 1) the Quarter Pounder has not been available in Japan until now, 2) the site (quarter-pounder.net) is a campaign site offering winners a chance to go to the US on a tour.
This is the reason that the QP is the "only" item on the menu. It is doubtful they got this idea from InO as there are none in Japan and the Japanese know nothing of the company. In fact, many people in the US know nothing about InO.
Still, interesting post. It'll be interesting to see what happens to these two shops after Nov 26 as that signals the end of the campaign. Too bad I won't have a chance to actually go get myself a QP, haven't had one since I moved to Japan 10 years ago.
Both burgers come as a set that's why there's a coke and fries with them.
If they make a store called "Southern Chicken Sandwich" I'd be their best customer.
What next ? You can only up size from here.
They could be giving away one quart of a pound of gold! Still there would be no chance i wouldn't enter a macdonald's!
In no way is this brand-free...the Quarter Pounder is one of McDonald's brands.
A press release from McDonald's (at least according to a few other blogs) says that this is just to create buzz marketing for the Quarter Pounder (not yet on menus at McDonald's in Japan) as it's introduced.
Dr. Tantillo's just published a post on McDonald's on his marketing blog ( http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv ) in which he praises McDonald's 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: http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2008/11/15/brand-winners-and-losers-mcdonalds-and-government.aspx
Even though this is supposed to just be temporary/buzz marketing, I wonder if cultivating this sort of aesthetic wouldn't make sense for them--a 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. http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2008/10/26/brand-winners-and-losers-dunkin-donuts-and-starbucks.aspx