Monthly Archives: November 2010
Grocery Sundays: Don’t Forget Your Phone
First let me apologize for being quiet these past two weeks. Work, life, holidays, etc. It’s early, and I’m getting ready for a morning workout, but before I commence, my brain always leads me to food – first and foremost. This is probably the reason why I’ll never be thin. My love for food will never let that happen. I digress.
Yesterday, Safeway and PepsiCo announced they will team up with FourSquare to revamp grocery store loyalty programs through location-based rewards and check-ins. Why has this taken so long? Who knows! Oh wait – here’s why … According to a recent eMarketer report (nov. 2), interest exists for mobile coupons, but adoption low. Meanwhile, there are a total of 3 million FourSquare users, most of whom are male. Stats show that nearly 80 percent of location-based social network users are males, and 70 percent are between the ages of 19 and 35.
I think it’s smart for the program to be a pilot, which is looking only at 300 stores in Southern California. My hope, phase 2 looks at other locations, spread out, throughout the US. Southern California doesn’t necessarily reflect the general consumer audience.
Yes, mobile is the perfect place for grocery store incentives especially for people looking for nutritional information, product reviews and deals. So, while stats lead us down the road of asking if a loyalty program might succeed, I’m left hoping that this is another “let’s dip our toes” in the location-based incentive game and take this purely as key learnings. Social media continues to be scrutinized for ROI, and a program like this only means hard and fast numbers, for an adoption rate that is quite low and for an audience who may not be the right one.
SoCal friends, will you be checking-in to the program?
McDonald’s McRib Faces Some Heat
If you haven’t already heard, McDonald has been working hard to relaunch the McRib sandwich. You’ve probably seen the commercial of the dad wiping his BBQed hands on his daughter’s bib, but did you happen to see the Promoted Trend for the rib-molded piece of meat? I’m from Kansas City and we know good BBQ a mile away, but let’s put our taste-buds aside and look at the mishaps on McD’s social media efforts.
Last Friday, McDonald’s Purchased Twitter’s Promoted Trends for approximately $80,000. What resulted was backlash and ridicule from the Twitter-verse. After reading the article ClickZ, I wanted to take a deeper look and think through where McDonald’s have have gone wrong. First step, Google.
Here are a few tweets that I found.
- Lacefronts & McDonald’s™ McRibs Are Ruining The Black Community
- The idea of ingesting a McRib sandwich literally makes me nauseous…
- I just imagine eating alien prawns covered in bbq sauce #Yuck!
- I’m sorry, but the McRib does not look or sound appetizing at all.
- I’ll pass on this one…- Is it a fear of meat formed in to rib shaped paties? It’s sort of gross #mcrib
So, seeing the response I can’t help but question, were there a few key steps that McDonald’s might have missed before purchasing the ad-buy? And, was an ad the best way to go? The short answer: Yes, then probably no. More may come to light of the McRib campaign, but in the meantime, here are my thoughts.
Know your Audience & Choose the Right Medium
Who is the McDonald’s McRib target audience? Honestly, I’m not sure Twitter was the right place. Additionally, I’ve never been a fan of just ad-buys, let alone untargeted buys. You’re not doing your brands justice by simply reaching everyone, when it’s a someone you’re looking for. Furthermore, there were opportunities to integrate with the McDonald’s Facebook page or Twitter handle, rather than a series of canned messages. Looking at your audience, could there have been a mobile component? How about YouTube, since you’re asking for video submissions? Pick your platforms based on your key audience.
Know Your Obstacles and Address Them
People continue to talk about the odd mystery meat formed into a rib-like mold, and it’s not positive conversations. Knowing the backlash both from the online and offline, would another shape have been a better choice? If not, then at least address the public outcry. Nothing beats transparency.
In the Clickz article, Rick Wion, the social media director at McDonald’s said, “It is U.S.D.A. grade A pork – pork loin and pork shoulder chopped and made into a patty. The fact that it is shaped like ribs probably throws some people off. Often there are some critics who jump on that.”
If the meat is a point of criticism and ignoring it has not shown to be successful, the next best move is to address it (and I’m not a fan of ignoring, but sometimes it happens). The truth, I never knew that this rib-like concoction was actually a Grade A pork loin and shoulder. Additionally, the cartoon video doesn’t do your mysterious meat justice. Tell your story McDonald’s – your true story. Don’t let us make it up. It won’t end well.
What do you think of the McDonald’s McRib online promotion? What would you have done differently?
