Essay
Veganism in McDonalds
- Module
- Fundamentals of Marketing
- Institution
- Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
Create a business idea that would increase the popularity of McDonald's
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Fundamentals of Marketing - Word Count: 20531 - Introduction:
1.1 Intro to the Brand and their Background:
McDonald’s is a worldwide fast food restaurant that provides consumers with quick,
simple and cost efficient food. According to McDonald’s (2020), “the business has now
become one of the world's leading food brands with more than 36,000 restaurants in more
than 100 countries”. Despite Mcdonald’s being one of the world's leading food brands they
still provide a restricted menu that doesn’t include all food dietaries. The most neglected food
dietary within the brand is veganism, this is displayed in their menu. Statistics show that in
2018 there was an estimated amount of 600,000 vegans in Great Britain alone, and around
360,000 people described themselves as living a vegan lifestyle (Jones, 2020). This
indicates that the majority of the UK population are increasingly aware of the type of food
they purchase. Similarly, the UK government is encouraging healthy eating by educating the
public on how they can improve their daily eating habits (Gov.uk, 2017). To support this the
government created a healthy eating scheme with “Change4life”, which created healthy
eating awareness in schools (Gov.uk, 2019). Due to the high focus on healthy eating
hospitality trends are constantly evolving and large hospitality brands should adapt to these
trends in order to stay relevant. Falcao (2020) states that, over the past year many “fast food
businesses have launched their vegan alternatives” for example, KFC have introduced a
“meat-free” burger served with vegan mayonnaise. By introducing vegan alternatives KFC
have expanded their target audience and the vegan burger surpassed their average launch
statistics by 500% (Chiorando, 2019).
1.2 Introduction to the Campaign Purpose, Objectives and Key Performance Indicators:
Recently, McDonald’s competitors are introducing vegan alternatives and it is
positioning the brand in jeopardy of decreasing their popularity. Based on Falcao’s research
(2020) the growth in veganism has created an audience for brands to offer new products,
which gives McDonald’s the opportunity to launch a vegan range. Doing so will help increase
the brand’s revenue as an estimated amount of £740 million was made on meat-free foods
within supermarkets in 2018 (Jones, 2020). Appendix 1 displays the “popularity for the
search term ‘veganism’, recorded in June of each year” (Jones, 2020). For McDonald’s to
become a more includent brand they will need to create a campaign that will focus on the
release of more vegan products. This campaign will promote the release of a new vegan
burger. According to Chaffey (2019), a SWOT analysis is a useful tool used in order to
summarise external and internal opportunities and threats within a business (see: appendix
2). Additionally, to have a successful campaign the business needs to have SMART
objectives. Chaffey (2019) states that, SMART objectives give clear direction on how to track
the performance of the campaign against the target the business wants to achieve. The
SMART objectives of this campaign is to;
- Make McDonald’s a more includant brand which will include alternatives for different
food diets for example, vegetarian and vegan.
- To change the stigma of the brand, by providing healthier food with a lower calorie
intake.
For detailed information on the objectives, purpose and KPI’s of the campaign view 3.3 -
campaign measurement.
, 2 - Target Audience:
The objective of this campaign is for McDonald’s to become a more includant brand.
This will expand their target audience as it will become a fast food option for vegan and
health awarenant consumers. Research shows that, “45% of consumers believe that plant
based proteins are healthier than animal proteins'' (Formanski, 2019), highlighting the
immense gap of vegan alternatives within the fast food industry. According to Mintel (2020),
46% of fast food consumers ages 16-24 years old would prefer to eat more plant based
meals. Therefore, this will be the targeted demographic for the campaign. A staggering
amount of 92% of plant-based foods were consumed by non-vegan eaters in the UK in 2018
(The Vegan Society, 2020). It is predicted by The Vegan Society (2020), that a quarter of the
British population by 2025 will be vegan eaters. For that reason hospitality trends will be
highly focused on vegan products within 25 years time, this is why it is important for fast food
businesses to keep up with society's food trends. The geographical segment of the
campaign will be within the UK, due to the high rise of veganism. Recently, consumers
prefer to eat vegan alternatives because they are embracing wellness through a
psychographic lense. Which means they’re thinking about their food choices from an ethical
perspective (Falcao, 2020). Nowadays consumers will look for foods that make them feel
good, as 16-24 year olds are constantly trying to adapt to healthier lifestyles (Falcao, 2020).
The campaign will be promoted through online marketing communications in order to reach
the demographic and geographical target audience. According to McDonald’s (2020), the
brand does not have a specific target audience although the majority of their campaigns are
targeted at specific consumers. This campaign will be targeted at 16-24 year olds who have
busy lifestyles and want to find healthier fast food alternatives, (see: appendix 3 for customer
persona of the target market segmentation).
3 - Campaign Strategy
3.1 Content Strategy:
The promotional material will be a short video advertising the new vegan burger,
aiming to break the stigma that McDonald’s sells unhealthy foods. The video will be
promoted through popular social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube as these are the current leading brands according to Johnson (2020). Promoting a
new product on these platforms allows the business to have measurable KPI’s (Key
Performance Indicators). Research shows that the majority of social media platforms now
have an ‘insights’ section, which allows businesses to monitor key digital statics such as;
information on followers, content insights - engagement and impressions, activity - insights
on how many people have visited the post, etc… (Bansal, n.d). Statistics show that 81% of
businesses are now using video marketing because it helps the consumers better
understand the products (Hayes, 2020). To reach its target audience the campaign will be
promoted through below the line marketing. This is the process of using; social media
marketing, search engine marketing, content marketing and paid search marketing
(Mansoor, 2017). Focusing on Instagram marketing, the new release will be promoted by
influencers who are commonly recognised by the targeted demographic for their healthy
lifestyle tips. Tran (2020), states that Instagram is the most commonly used platform by
Generation Z and Millennials which proves why McDonald’s campaign will be mostly
effective on Instagram. The influencers that will interact with the campaign will be health
focused and have a target audience of 16-24 year olds.
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