The missing ingredient

Last month, the media exploded with reports of McDonald's 21 per cent plunge in profits for Q4 of 2014. McD's has suffered the entire last year with declining sales and a great loss of customer loyalty, especially when it comes to the American millennials customer base. Among other great initiatives for its recovery - such as reducing expenditures to open new stores and using those funds to fix current ones - the fast-food giant is deploying a major marketing campaign with a theme based on…(wait for it).

Lovin'

For over 50 years, McDonald's has been creating slogans that emotionally move us to develop an appetite that goes beyond our desire for food. From the 1960's "Let's Eat Out!" right through the 1990's "Have you had your break today?," our beloved 'golden arches' has spent billions of dollars to enter our psyche and close the sale in the minds of millions of couch potatoes.

But you don't have to be a marketing genius to see the misfire on this most recent slogan. While chains like Chipotle and other "fast casual" restaurants have figured out how to attract a crowd based on transparency and good food practices, McDonald's is ignoring a vital sales principle it has missed the mark to capitalise on for ages, but it is only now beginning to pay the price for it. This component is called:

Trust

As we have more access to information regarding the source of our foods and the food industry's common practices, we tend to make better informed decisions about where to eat, and where not to eat. We have developed a natural tendency to gravitate toward fast-foods from chains that have gained our trust, by their constant communication regarding what they stand for in terms of the quality and safety of their foods, including 'no-hormone' policies and non-GMO ingredients.

However, reports regarding McDonald's french-fries potatoes' growing and manufacturing processes, and food mishandling scandals such as the one in China this past year, have left the public wondering whether seeking for Golden Arches during their lunch break is really a "safe" choice. There are three reasons anyone would buy a product:
1. Affordability
2. Need/Want
3. Like/Trust

Of course, in the case of McDonald's, one has rarely to peek at the bank account balance before placing an order, so affordability is not an issue. Also, based on the chemical composition of its delicious items, there's really no need for them to up their game on the 'need' part of this scheme. The issue for McDonald's is heavily focused on the 'like/trust' portion of this psychology. What would save McDonald's is a total shift in its ways of manufacturing, handling, and cooking its foods by adding levels of transparency to the consumer. I believe they need to gain a lot more Trustin' before they get to give more Lovin'.

The author is Renan DeBarros, a sales and recruitment specialist. Re-printed with permission.
Link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mcdonalds-missing-ingredient-sales-component-renan-debarros