Campaign of the Week: McDonald's International Ads Promote Unity

McDonald’s recently released a series of outdoor ads in Europe that focus on promoting a sense of international unity during Euro 2016, an international soccer championship tournament. While the ads were created with an international audience in mind, U.S. consumers might still appreciate the idea of acceptance and unity depicted by scarves from different countries being joined together and the “Come as you are” message shown on each ad. So what do U.S. consumers think about this type of advertising? And how might this specific campaign fare in the U.S.?

Fast Food Customers

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 4% of respondents said that they purchase from fast food or quick service restaurants every day. 22% do so a few times per week. 38% said they go to fast food restaurants a few times a month. 14% go a few times every three months. 12% go a few times a year. And 11% said they patronize fast food restaurants less frequently than once a year.McDonald’s was generally the most popular of the fast food or quick service restaurants listed when it comes to regular customers. 50% of those who eat fast food at least a few times per year said that they go to McDonald’s regularly. The next most popular restaurant was Subway, with 38% saying they visit regularly. In addition, 54% of fast food consumers said they have seen visual ads for fast food restaurants within the past week.

McDonald’s International Ads

In general, 17% of fast food consumers said that they would be certain or practically certain about choosing McDonald’s the next time they patronize a fast food restaurant. 23% said that it would be very probable that they’d choose McDonald’s. And 26% said it would be a good possibility. Of consumers who viewed one of McDonald’s international ads, 20% said they would be certain or practically certain about choosing McDonald’s the next time they purchase fast food. 23% said it would be very probable. And 27% said it would be a good possibility. That made it the most popular choice among that group, though Subway was a close second. 16% said they would be certain or practically certain about choosing Subway the next time they purchase fast food.In addition, 20% of those who viewed the ad said that they are soccer fans. Those consumers were even more likely than the rest of ad viewers to say that they would choose McDonald’s for their next fast food purchase. And those who do not already eat McDonald’s regularly were less likely overall to say that they would choose McDonald’s for their next fast food purchase. But the ad did have a slight positive impact on those chances for irregular McDonald’s customers.

Brand Attributes

In addition, the ads seemed to have an impact on how some consumers view the McDonald’s brand. For example, with the general panel of fast food consumers, McDonald’s scored highly in value, taste, being made by a trustworthy company and respectability. Those who viewed the advertisement ranked McDonald’s slightly higher in terms of value and taste.

Key Takeaways

This particular campaign is likely better suited for international consumers rather than those just in the U.S. due to the low number of soccer fans. However, even without that connection, fast food consumers who viewed the ads were at least a bit more likely to say that they’d choose McDonald’s for their next fast food purchase. And the increased numbers among soccer fans indicate that relevance can make those results even better. So if McDonald’s could create ads that depict that same general sense of unity and acceptance, but with a topic that’s more relevant to a wide base of U.S. consumers, they could have a big potential success on their hands.You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: McDonalds by Mike Mozart under CC BY 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on June 22 via AYTM’s online survey panel.