Japan-only products: McDonald's

One of the things that marketers need to pay close attention to in Japan is the use of seasonal products. I'll take this up in detail in a future post, but for now, take a peek at this TV commercial for the "Gurakoro," one of the products McDonald's sells only in Japan, and only in autumn.

Okay, now you're asking, "What on earth is a Gurakoro?" Well, the word Gurakoro is derived from two loanwords for two very tasty French comfort foods: gratin and croquettes. Gratin is a cheese and pasta dish, and croquettes are breadcrumb-coated, deep-fried potato patties (or patties made from other ingredients). In Japanese, gratin is pronounced guraten and croquette is pronounced kurokke. Gurakoro merely combines the first two syllables of each of these words.

So what we're talking about here, product-wise, is bread-crumb coated pattie that's made from gratin which is deep-friend, placed on a bun, garnished with lettuce and topped with a Bull Dog style sauce. The Gurakoro is usually available for about a month each November.

By the way, this isn't the most recent commercial for this product. Instead of posting the newest one, I've opted for the one I believe resonated most strongly with consumers over the past few years.

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