Print

Mail

wiki links

McDonald's Corp launches new global ad campaign

McDonald's Corp, the world's largest hamburger chain, will introduce its first global advertising campaign in Germany tomorrow using the catch phrase "I'm lovin' it" as the company tries to boost sales worldwide.

The campaign was developed by Heye & Partner, an advertising agency based in Munich, Germany, that has worked with McDonald's in the past. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's will introduce the new marketing effort in the US Sept. 29. McDonald's is replacing a three-year-old campaign, "We love to see you smile," that later was cut to just "Smile."

While US sales have increased in recent months, sales in the UK and Germany have dropped amid sluggish economic growth. Chief Executive Officer James Cantalupo is introducing new products and trying to freshen up the company's image. "It's another meaningless slogan," said Jack Trout, president of Trout & Partners Ltd, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based marketing-strategy company. "There is no strategy in that particular statement. It's just another slogan in a parade of slogans. Most people aren't lovin it."

The "I'm lovin it" campaign is part of a two-year worldwide marketing effort aimed at attracting mothers, children and young adults.

"This is probably the biggest dose of innovation that marketing at McDonald's has ever seen," Dean Barrett, McDonald's senior vice president for global-brand business, said in an interview.

McDonald's US sales rose for a fourth month in a row in July, helped by the introduction of new products such as McGriddle breakfast sandwiches and salads served with actor Paul Newman's dressings. A new ad campaign for the Big Mac helped boost Big Mac sales by 40 percent in July.

Sales at European restaurants open at least 13 months fell 0.6 percent in July, their smallest drop since last July.
This story has been viewed 2147 times.