Adonica Georges, Jada Davis, Tyler Thomas, LoRae Dortch

Professor Zhang

MCOM 214

December 15, 2022

Introduction

Original Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djG52oBOeeg

Though memorable, this ad was very unsuccessful from a user engagement standpoint for

many reasons. McDonald's didn’t display a clear objective to users and tried to use humor to

engage them. However, this ad did the complete opposite, as it left users confused and only

remembering the “randomness” that this ad presented. To further explore this, let’s take a look at

this from a SWOT analysis breakdown. This commercial's strengths would be the inclusion of

recognizable faces and celebrities such as Kanye West. At the time of this ad’s release, Kanye

was in high standing with the public. Associating his personal brand with McDonald's would

help create a WOM conversation. The weaknesses of this ad and the unclear nature of the ad are

present in the punchline, “Can I get a uhh?” While it’s for sure memorable to ad watchers, it

doesn’t serve a purpose for this brand or its products. The opportunity for this company is to

create a more relatable storyline and get a better spokesperson who better represents that brand's

image and values. Lastly, the threat that McDonald's is facing from this ad is the backlash of

consumer opinions and the opportunity for consumers to switch to other fast foods.

Marketing Strategy Proposal

The commercial our group is creating caters to a college demographic. The age

range consists of 18-28 years olds that are attending college or post-grad. Generation

Z/Millennials are the most consuming generation in the market, and appealing to them
will benefit the company. The goal of the commercial is to appeal to the nostalgia of

getting a meal with a toy as a kid. Creating that sense of enjoyment in receiving a meal

that was more than stomach-filling but entertaining. Another target market segment our

commercial focuses on is psychographic segmentation. We added a collaboration with

Tinder to appeal to the Generation Z lifestyle. Our commercial highlights the lifestyle of

Generation Z. The commercial follows two young individuals going on a date at a fine

dining restaurant, which does not go well or end well. The commercial ends with the

depiction of the female love interest, who is texting someone else to fill her time, and he

arrives with a McDonald's Adult Happy Meal. She's filled with interest, enjoyment, and

excitement—a complete change of emotion from the original date compared to a fine

dining restaurant, which isn't what she wanted. The commercial's objective is to appeal

to the common scenarios these generations experience. This switch the actors go

through is appealing because it reflects a common situation dealt with in the younger

generation's “hook-up” culture. Making the storyline more relatable will draw more

attention to the ad. The message strategy aligns with the ego strategy (transformational)

by appealing to a sensory reaction in the audience. The goal is for the audience to see

the satisfaction of getting a McDonald's Adult Happy Meal. The transformative

approach will create an emotional pull for the commercial. The commercial also taps

into behavioristic segmentation. We can draw the consumer's attention and interest by

appealing to the purchase-occasion variable and benefit-sought variable. Our goal is to

target the age group 18–28; the behavior of this demographic consists of finding trendy

food that is value-driven, and great-tasting. This product already has social media

covered, and our commercial shows how the product can be a part of the common
scenarios for Gen-Z and Millennials. These generations love a trend that taps into their

inner child. The meal comes with a remix version of loveable classic McDonald's

characters. The commercial does an amazing job connecting with the older range of

demographic by highlighting the playfulness and nostalgia of the Adult Happy Meal.

The meal itself comes with an exclusive Cactus Plant Flea Market by Cynthia Lu toy

collaboration. The meal comes with a remix version of loveable classic McDonald's

characters, including the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, and a

uniform-wearing “Cactus Buddy".

Positioning Strategy

The positioning strategy that our McDonald’s ad best fits under is "use and application,"

as McDonald’s could be viewed as more than just fast food and more as a way to connect with

others. The first couple, as seen in our advertisement, used a fancy restaurant as a placeholder to

create a great connection that expensive food could not create. However, the second couple was

able to take something as simple as a Happy Meal and turn it into an intimate date night with a

much happier turnout. We aimed to emphasize that choosing to feed into ego does not always

have the same outcome that simplicity brings forth. The saying “less is more” is a good

representation of how we choose to position our advertisements.

Positioning Statement

McDonald's is the fast food restaurant for Generation Z that delivers affordable food and

nostalgia by keeping prices low even in times of inflation and bringing ideas from the past, like

classic Happy Meal toys, back into this era.

Advertising Strategy Proposal

 The message strategy we chose aligns with the ritual strategy (transformational) by

appealing to the audience's sensory reaction. The mental connection will lead to a more

transformative reaction to the commercial, which focuses on the change of emotion someone

feels when getting a McDonald's Adult Happy Meal. Ordinarily, a McDonald’s

advertisement would fall under the “social ritual” strategy; however, we specifically went

with the "ego ritual" strategy since you are projecting a personal identity when you choose

McDonald’s over a fancier and more expensive restaurant. Advertisement demonstrates how

effectively a product may fit with the consumer's perception of who they are. This

advertisement will relate to the college student who doesn’t have enough money to go on a

more traditional fine dining date. This ad will appeal to young adults who are still connecting

with their inner child as well as the person who values spending quality time with their

significant other over expensive experiences.

Creative Brief

For our creative brief, we've had to ask ourselves a few questions that will help direct us

toward our goal. Our goal is to prove that McDonald's is the best choice for a first date since it’s

convenient and inexpensive. A first date is an opportunity to make a good impression and get to

know the other person, and enjoying McDonald's in a laid-back environment makes it more

comfortable. Gen-Z doesn't care about a fancy, uptight dinner because it puts too much pressure

on people.

Why are we advertising? We are promoting this to increase the desire for Generation Z

adults to go to McDonald's for a first date and buy Adult Happy Meals instead of going out to a

nice restaurant. Whom are we talking to? Our target audience consists of males and females in

the dating pool dominated by Generation Z. They tend to be college students with lower to
middle incomes. What do they currently think? Our target audience thinks taking a guy or a girl

to an expensive restaurant is needed for intimacy, which is just not the case. And our audience

might also think eating at McDonald's is a lazy first date.

What would we like them to think? Our goal is to make them believe that McDonald's

Adult Happy Meal is perfect for a date night. What is the single most persuasive idea we can

convey? Our compelling vision is that an Adult Happy Meal is more suitable for intimacy. Why

should they believe it? Our audience should consider this because McDonald's Adult Happy

Meals are far more chill and inexpensive, and you can get closer to your date without the stress.

Our video advertisement perfectly conveys our objective and targets our audience. At the

beginning of the ad, it displayed how uncomfortable the characters were from their awkward

interactions. Once the girl in the ad left the first date, she immediately went to a more relatable

and laid-back guy. Ultimately, it displayed how comfortable they were sharing an Adult Happy

Meal.

Creative Strategy Proposal

For our creative strategy, we implemented the Leo Burnett Simply Creative Strategy as a

guideline for our advertisement. Beginning with our objective, we made the creative goal for this

project to create a scene that displayed the lack of effort required to simply enjoy yourself with

other peers, or in this case, a love interest. In our current day and age, the younger generation

finds contentment in nights spent sharing fun and intimate moments, such as enjoying a happy

meal in pajamas while watching a show. Fancy restaurants such as the one displayed in the ad

only create an uptight environment and feed the ego. As presented in the advertisement, one of

our characters tried to use the loads of money he put out for the fancy date as an excuse to come
into his date's apartment. They do not create the genuine connections that our generation seeks to

have. Next, we followed up with a supporting statement. Aiming to appeal to the perception of

enjoyment for our customers, we stated that the joy of a relaxed night cannot compete with an

uncomfortable semi-formal setting that may appeal to the eye. People, especially college

students, enjoy comfort foods such as chicken nuggets and french fries that bring forth

comfortability and the most vulnerable version of themselves. Lastly, we focused on capturing

our brand personality, which aimed to create a “relaxed and relatable” advertisement. Most

college students could relate to the “broken, sad, and single” narrative, as most of us are just

establishing ourselves and gaining a sense of financial freedom. We tried to incorporate relatable

references such as the “you up?” message that our main female character sent out. This implied

that she was looking for company, as many of us could relate to the loneliness felt at certain

hours of the night. Lastly, we tried to tap into our audience's feel-good senses as we went for a

transformational approach. Similar to how audiences think about gifts such as a necklace from

Pandora or Kays for special occasions, we hope that we can get our target audience (college

students) to think of McDonald's when they think of date night. Our advertisement displayed user

gratification by showing the happiness of the character once she saw her date with the happy

meal, which is the same feeling we hope that our audience will achieve.

McDonald's Adult Happy Meal Commercial: Shot List

Scene 1: Restaurant- night

Shot 1 Open Shot of table with couple - slow pan towards
couple

Shot 2 Close up shot of Guy1 - POV girl shot - Profile shot

“you didn’t even touch your Coq Au Vin”

 Shot 3 Medium profile shot of girl looking down at food
Girl continues to play with her food seeming
uninterested

Scene 2: Doorstep - Night

Shot 1 Open shot of Guy1 walking Girl to door

Shot 2 Medium profile shot of girl turning towards Guy1

Shot 3 Close up profile shot of Guy1

“So…”

Shot 4 Medium profile shot of door closing on Guy1 face

Scene 3: Apartment - Night

Shot 1 Open shot of Girl walking in apartment pulling her
iphone out

Shot 2 Over the shoulder shot of Girl opening up Tinder App

Cut to - Girl Texts Guy2 “You up?”

Shot 3 Wide shot of girl sitting up from sofa - Follow behind

shot of girl opening door - over the shoulder shot of
Guy2 holding Mcdonalds Happy meal smiles

Shot 4 Close up front shot of girl smiling

Shot 5 Profile Wide shot of Girl and Guy2 sharing fries while
laughing on the sofa watching TV

IMC Strategy Proposal

For our McDonald's advertising campaign, we made the decision to demonstrate three

different IMC strategies, including social media marketing, cross-business marketing, and

print media advertising. For the purpose of social media marketing, we would ask our clients

and perhaps even a few influencers to upload a photo of their adult happy meal toy along with

the hashtag #MyAdultHappyMeal and a mention of McDonald's by tagging them in official

posts and story posts. This would relate to psychographic segmentation since we are

appealing to social media users. We would also have McDonald's work with the dating app

Tinder as an example of cross-business marketing. Every time you match with someone, you

win a coupon for you and your match to use on your next date. This would fall under the

benefits-sought variable in behavioristic segmentation since we are targeting people who

value low prices. A loyalty program for college students with a valid university ID would be

developed for print media advertising. We would present them with a "buy one, get one free"

deal when they scan the QR code on the flier. The fliers would be posted all around college

campuses as well as inside McDonald’s restaurants, focusing this advertisement on the

McDonald’s surrounding college campuses. This would fall under the user-status variable in

behavioristic segmentation since we are targeting discount users.