McDonald’s Improves Customer Experience, Brand Loyalty Through Local Engagement

In a report on Wal-Mart’s new localized social CRM strategy, Call Center IQ identified McDonald’s as an example of a brand that, despite being global, is best known to customers as a single retail location in a single neighborhood.

Coincidentally enough, McDonald’s now joins Wal-Mart in pursuing a localized engagement strategy.

But, where Wal-Mart’s strategy involved incorporating local targeting into its global Facebook presence, McDonald’s new initiative operates in reverse—it gives the global brand a seat at the local table.

According to the Los Angeles Times, McDonald’s is beginning the first major roll-out of its "McDonald’s Channel" at 800 west coast restaurants.

Says the report, McDonald’s Channel is "digital network of exclusive original content targeted at dine-in customers. The programming will be customized to specific communities around the individual restaurants, and will include local news and entertainment features, such as spotlights on upcoming films, albums and TV shows."

Aware that McDonald’s restaurants work wonders in marketing themselves and attracting a consistent audience, the in-store television channel gives the brand a simple method of reaching its customer base. It makes McDonald’s’ global message relevant at the local level, building engagement beyond "this is the most consistent place for me to get a cheap, quick cheeseburger or a Big Mac."

"While they're in line getting their hamburger there is no escape," said Allen Adamson, managing partner of Landor Associates, in the LA Times report. So-called in-store networks are "one of the last bastions where you have a captive audience."

The network will not, however, predicated its existence on the direct promotional value the iconic restaurant can get from a clear pathway to customers’ eyeballs. The concept also serves to, more generically, improve the overall restaurant experience.

Between entertainment programming and profiles on local athletes and parents, the content mix is designed to deliver some actual enjoyment for the audience. It will not simply be a billboard for McDonald’s to sneak in some additional branding and messaging; it will be another outlet—besides talking with fellow patrons—for customers to turn their restaurant visit from a convenient "refuel" into an actual experience.

McDonald’s’ Danya Proud, in fact, notes that the television network will join in-store Wi-Fi as a strategic measure to make the restaurants more destination and less pit-stop.

And, as of course would be expected in a successful enterprise, McDonald’s is not lost on the commercial value of its network. Since an in-store network will reach such a large audience, McDonald’s should be able to command premium advertising rates for participation in its new network service.

Like Wal-Mart, with the introduction of a localized strategy, McDonald’s is showing that even the most successful, recognizable franchises cannot ignore evolutions in how customers perceive businesses.

True, McDonald’s is not facing any immediate risk of losing its positioning within the sector. But as customers pursue avenues, like social, for communicating their brand allegiances and concerns, no brand is immune from a need to reinforce its relevance. Customers have learned that the best brands have "personalities" and build relationships—and for as long as that remains true, the notion of companies trying to get by simply on name recognition and value will seem archaic.

It would be beyond-unadvisable for a staple like McDonald’s or Wal-Mart to drastically reinvent itself for a "social" customer. But it would be similarly-unadvisable for one of those companies to go another second without confirming it understands why its customers engage with the brand and what they want to gain as the relationship grows.