Tuesday, June 29, 2021

“You can feel a sense of optimism”
Why McDonald’s Is Burying “Shut Fun”

After the reopening, the burger roaster will rely primarily on its new McDelivery delivery service. Recently honored head of marketing, Susan Schramm, outlines the group’s new strategy and explains why grass packaging and healthy eating are so important to McDonald’s.

In the time of lockdown, McDonald’s launched its own delivery service – giving high hopes to the burger chain. “In some cities we work with our partner, Liferando, but we are currently expanding our fleet,” said McDonald’s marketing director Susan Schramm. In the podcast “The Zero Hour”. There is “too much attention” and “too high expectations” on this.

As in the catering business as a whole, the fast-food chain is lagging behind with eventful months, sales in Germany fell to 3.2 billion euros from 3.8 billion in 2020, and many employees were on short-term work. Branches have reopened for a few weeks, and in times of lockdown, often only drive-ins were open. “You can feel this sense of optimism here too,” Schramm said. “Everyone is happy that a touch of mediocrity is finally returning and a certain joy for the future and optimism is spreading.”

Schramm believes that for many people still eating inside a restaurant means “overcoming a certain amount”: “In both classic gastronomy and McDonald’s, you have to clear your head again first. Will happen.” McDonald’s usually draws attention to itself at soccer tournaments with activities such as “Hut Fun” or “Easter Countdown”. But this time there’s no “we’re back” campaign. It’s about generalization, Schramm said — and incidentally also about finding enough new employees quickly.

Susan Schram, who just worked Best Brand Strategist in Germany, named “CMO of the Year”, quickly adjusted the burger chain’s communications strategy due to COVID-19. From a brand that “stands for lightness, for beautiful moments”, the message had to change: “All of a sudden you had to throw everything you built so neatly and neatly into really high granularity.” The message was, Schramm said: “We ensure the safety of our guests and our employees.” For this purpose, ad clips were also rotated and changed.

Trends that McDonald’s also focuses on include sustainability and healthy eating. It’s not an easy thing to own a fast food chain, but “a balanced diet and eating out while having fun shouldn’t be mutually exclusive,” says Schramm. An extensive vegetarian and vegan menu is planned. Reducing waste is also a goal of McDonald’s, for example through new packaging made from grass. Such measures “are extremely important, especially for the youth target group and not just for them,” Schram says.

Also listen in on the new episode of “The Zero Hour”:

• How often does Susan Schramm eat at McDonald’s
• What McDonald’s is planning for the 50th anniversary in Germany
• Will robots at McDonald’s soon serve food instead of humans?

You can find all episodes directly here audio nowhandjob Apple or Spotify or through Google.