Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

I stumbled upon this excellent interview with Larry Light, McDonalds’ Former Chief Marketing Officer, thanks to Kim Brater. I find McDonalds an extremely fascinating company and have written about their Ten Commandments in the past. The Ten Commandments are at the core of the company turnaround in 2002.

Reading the interview with Light, I couldn’t help but think about how some of the lessons McDonalds learnt back in 2002 matter more than ever during a recession. Here are two key quotes which I think are particularly relevant in the current economic climate.

During the years preceding 2002, McDonald’s focused on cost reduction, rather than customer experience improvement. The result was the incremental degradation of product and service quality.

Managing costs is a major focus at present. Companies are right to look at cost savings when it comes to improving efficiencies, but unfortunately many organisations are cutting off their hand at their wrist in order to save on trimming their fingernails. The majority of companies need to shift their focus from customer acquisition to customer retention. If company’s want to improve their customer offering, the best way to do it is by focussing on customer experience improvement. Robin Blandford has an interesting blog post on this topic about how organisations can turn customer complaints to their advantage.

Effective marketing is essential for enduring profitable growth. It is not enough to renovate and innovate. Customers must be kept aware and reminded of the brand promise. And, the brand image needs to be kept up to date. Beginning in 2003, the McDonald’s brand reputation experienced a major rehabilitation and revitalization.

One topic consistently brought up by advertisers is the old chestnut that the companies that profited during the last recession were those that maintained or increased their advertising spend. I think this is over the top, what companies need to focus on though like McDonalds is reminding customers about their brand promise. McDonalds took a step back and looked at what was really important to their customers. People go to McDonalds because they want to get something to eat quickly in a clean and friendly environment, so they invested in fulfilling this experience for their customers through clever investments like hostesses to cater for parents with small children.

Competing simply on price is a short term strategy, it only buys you some time before your competitors eventual respond. If you want to build brand loyalty then you have to develop an experience which isn’t easily replicable by your competition.

For these insights alone, I will definitely be picking up a copy of Light’s new book ‘Six Rules for Brand Revitlization‘ For those unfamiliar with McDonalds’ ten commandments, here they are again:

1. The customer is the most important person in our business

2. The customer is not dependent on us - we are dependent on him

3. The customer is not an interruption of our work - he is the purpose of it

4. The customer does us an honour when he calls - we are not doing him a favour by serving him

5. The customer is part of our business, not an outsider - he is our guest

6. The customer is not a cold statistic - he is flesh and blood - a human with feelings like our own

7. The customer is not someone to argue with or match wits with

8. The customer is the one who brings us his wants - it is our job to fill them

9. The customer is deserving of the most courteous and attentive treatment we can give him

10. The customer has the right to expect an employee to present a neat, clean appearance. The employee should have trim, clean
fingernails, be clean shaven and keep his hair cut