According to Blogger Neil Duckett, the Quarter Pounder sandwich has not yet been introduced to the menu at McDonald’s restaurants in Japan. However, McDonald’s recently opened restaurants simply called Quarter Pounder – without the McDonald’s name or familiar Golden Arches logo – in two Japanese cities. Quarter Pounder restaurants look more like pricey martini bars than fast food joints, and they sell only two menu items: the Quarter Pounder with Cheese and the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Cruise on over to the official Quarter Pounder Website and enjoy all of its minimalist splendor!
McDonald’s. UGH. I can’t believe it has its own STORE. I thought only Americans were supposed to be fat asses! haha
You should totally read the Fast Food Nation book by Eric Schlosser. It shows the dark side of the American meal and is NOT like the movie, its way way better!
This is so weird, especially since I was just reading about McDonald’s on Dr. Tantillo’s marketing blog ( http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv), where he praises McDonald’s for being so flexible and adapting to demand but prefaced this with: “The big things about McDonald’s cosmetic image (i.e., colors, designs, clown mascot) have never essentially changed. Neither has the basic serving and restaurant setup.”
Guess they are even more flexible though… Tantillo’s full post: http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2008/11/15/brand-winners-and-losers-mcdonalds-and-government.aspx
Even though this is supposed to just be temporary/buzz marketing, I wonder if cultivating this sort of aesthetic wouldn’t make sense for them–a move to diversify their holdings (they own a significant portion of Chipotle, or did last I knew) and expand/diversify their customer base (Ex. their ‘unsnobby coffee’ campaign. Tantillo did a post on Starbucks/Dunkin’ Donuts mentioning McDonald’s coffee, too.
http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2008/10/26/brand-winners-and-losers-dunkin-donuts-and-starbucks.aspx
And yes, that’s a good book..that could have benefited from buzz marketing? It had tough competition…