Brand Audit Proposal
Brand: The McDonald’s Corporation
Basic Brand Information: McDonald’s is one of the most recognized brands in the world. Since 1940, McDonald’s a grown to be the world’s largest hamburger fast food chain. While McDonald’s has a large array of customers they tend to focus on three target customer groups: families with young children, the “urban working commuter on the move and teenagers. For families, parents see McDonald’s as a treat to their children while the children find it as a great place to play. The urban working commuter sees McDonald’s as a great place to get good food without compromising a busy work schedule. The final target customer to McDonald’s is a teenager. McDonald’s is a place where teenagers can “hang out” and enjoy food on a budget. Burger King Corporation, Subway, Starbucks, Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, and YUM Foods (owners of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silvers, and A&W, among others) are their top competitors.
Current Strategic Situation: The McDonald’s Corporation is the most established and well-renowned fast-food restaurant in the world. There are over 34,000 McDonald’s locations located all over the world in 119 different countries. McDonald’s boasted 2012 annual revenues of $27.56 billion dollars US. Aside from its annual revenue, another one of McDonald’s many successes is the McHappy Day, which is a day where McDonald’s raises money for the companies Ronald McDonald House Charity. McDonald’s faces many challenges such as trying to constantly improve the quality and nutritional value of their food due to movies such as “Super-Size Me” hurting their public image. McDonald’s has also gone through numerous lawsuits over the years, however, the important thing to keep in mind through all this is that the McDonald’s Corporation has always seemed to improve and correct its mistakes over the years, which is why it is such a prominent and successful company still today.
Your biggest challenge in auditing this brand will be: McDonalds can never predict change; instead change is in the hands of the customer. Trends worldwide or simple as community to community will affect how the products are made. An issue faced while auditing McDonald’s is that recently more and more people have become health conscious, more aware of animal cruelty and more conscious of what goes into their food. Despite the fact that McDonald’s offers quality meat from animals that have not been victims of cruelty and does not add harmful chemicals to its foods, people will still “bash” McDonald’s. This will causes problems while auditing the brand because much of the information on McDonald’s will be false and very negative.
