First there was the MegaMac, then the MegaTeriyaki, and now McDonald's Japan is set to launch its third series of "mega" burgers next month.
This time we're looking at twin sandwiches (fraternal, not identical) dubbed "MegaTomato" and "MegaTamago." They're to be available as limited-edition products from December 14 to January 10 at McDonald's throughout Japan.
These burgers differ from the seminal MegaMac in that they each replace one of the four beef patties with other mainstay McDonald's ingredients. With the MegaTomato, it's a slice of tomato and two strips of bacon. For the MegaTamago, it's one of those Egg Mcmuffin eggs ("tamago" means "egg" in Japanese), plus the same two bacon strips.
Why McDonald's Japan is coming out with this latest round of big sandwiches is obvious—they're hoping to repeat the success of earlier "mega" products.
Why they've chosen these particular iterations is likely a combination of practicality and the search for a marketing hook.
Practically speaking, it's extremely difficult for fast food companies to introduce completely new and original products—customers not only expect something a little bit familiar, but the logistics of launching new items are extremely daunting. You have to correctly forecast demand and source ingredients, assure timely delivery of those ingredients to thousands of restaurants, make sure workers at every store are properly trained on the product, and come up revised menu boards, in-store POP, TV and other mass-media commercials, electronic and printed coupons and other consumer promotions. The more familiar the ingredients, the easier all of this is.
As for the marketing "hook," since McD's communications team undoubtedly saw the risk in introducing "new" sandwiches that are essentially reshuffles of existing ingredients, somebody probably saw the need for at least a smidgen of creativity in product formulation—which could then be applied to the communications approach. Given the propensity of Japanese youth to immediately shorten words for ease of use and to create trendy speech, the names of these sandwiches are certainly to be instantly collapsed to "MegaToma" and "MegaTama," designations that are cute and can create a bit of tongue-twister entertainment as well (say "tama-toma" fast 10 times).
Now we just have to see what the copywriters have come up with when the ads air in a couple of weeks.
