Look away now agency land. McDonald’s is starting to recognise the power of its own gravitas and is increasingly utilising its own channel – the MyMacca’s app – to advertise and engage with its customer base.
This is according to McDonald’s ANZ chief customer officer Chris Brown. Speaking to B&T as part of our recent CMO Power List, Brown revealed that the fast food giant has “over two million actively engaged kind of customers on the app” in Australia which makes it a “very powerful channel.”
“Actively engaged” means that the customers have been on the app within the last 60 days.
Regarding MyMacca’s famed loyalty programme, Brown says it’s “a great way for us to reward our customers and deliver additional value beyond some of the other value offers that we have”.
“It allows us to deepen the relationship that we already have”.
The loyalty programme is particularly important given the current economic climate, which is central to McDonald’s strategy over the next 12 – 18 months, Brown said.
Given the “economic context that we’re operating in currently” it is important that “we’re delivering great value for our customers every day,” he said.
“We launched our ‘Value Means More At Macca’s’ creative platform about 18 months ago along with the launch of our loyalty programme. It is about making sure that when people turn up they know they can get great products at a great price every day.”
“Are we making sure that our value strategy is is is as strong and as customer-centric as possible? Because that’s gonna be important for us as a business if we’re gonna continue to win in the next 12 to 18 months,” he said.
Another shift McDonald’s is making is a shift to chicken.
“Our customers are generally eating more and more chicken here in Australia. And whilst we’re kind of world-famous for beef, we think there’s a great opportunity for us to be equally famous for chicken as well. So that’s why we’re focused on our chicken strategy”.
Back in December, Macca’s promoted its new $9.80 McCrispy Burger through the app by offering customers a free drink and fries if they picked up the burger within a one-week timeframe.
Price is becoming an increasingly important factor for marketers engaging with customers who are navigating a cost-of-living crisis. Last week, B&T spoke to Andrew Hicks, Woolworths’ longstanding chief marketing officer, and Amanda McVay, the new CMO of Coles, about what they are doing to help cash-strapped consumers.
