Last month, McDonald's Japan closed its Omotesando shop without warning and a few weeks later, just as suddenly, this QUARTER POUNDER shop appeared. It's basically the old store, but they've removed most of the fixtures, furniture and wall coverings, closed the dining areas and painted the place black and red. And they've cut the menu down to just a few items. You can order Coke or Coke light, french fries, and either a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, or a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese (which, if I recall from my training in English and math, more accurately should have been called a Half Pounder with Cheese, but I digress).
If you look closely, you'll see that nowhere on the signage or inside the shop do you see the "Golden Arches." That's because McDonald's never announced to the general public that the store—and the Quarter Pounder—are affiliated with the company (the last time McDonald's sold the Quarter Pounder in Japan was the late 1970's, so essentially it's brand new for most people). McDonald's Japan is keeping the QP's origins a mystery, perhaps hoping to create some kind of drama to generate pre-buzz before the sandwich is released through regular shops. Obliquely, they're running a consumer promotion in which Quarter Pounder shop customers receive a quiz card asking "which famous hamburger company is affiliated with the Quarter Pounder?" Those that bother to mail in correct answers have the chance to win something in a prize drawing.
Why on earth are they going this route? After all, McDonald's has quite a bit of accumulated positive brand equity in Japan, and they can certainly afford to do a national roll out using a real ad campaign. So why open just two specialty locations in Tokyo (there is one additional shop in nearby Shibuya, located, oddly, in a poorly traveled back alley) instead of opting for the time honored approach? The product has already tested successfully in regional Japanese markets.
I can think of a couple of reasons. First, the product itself is kind of boring. Not that I think Quarter Pounders are bad sandwiches (they're actually quite tasty)—what I mean is that the idea of introducing a big burger is kind of boring.
Basically, a Quarter pounder with Cheese is just a giant cheeseburger, minus the pickles, that uses sliced, rather than minced, onions. It's a straightforward volume sandwich that inherently lacks pizzazz—particularly in light of the fact that Japan has already seen about 47 incarnations of the Mega Mac—an even bigger burger with more toppings. Somebody probably got the bright idea that they could somehow raise excitement by diverting attention away from the brand and the sandwich, and onto the launch itself. If that's the case, I've got four words for them: emperor, clothes, lipstick, pig.
Alternatively, it may be that some executives at Mcd's Japan have stopped thinking strategically (if indeed, they ever were). In addition to the promotional quiz (which, by the way, is only reaching the relatively few consumers who visit the two shops), the only other communications the company has been doing involve a few large-scale train station posters, and hiring mobs of men in black suits to stand in front and near the shops to scream at passersby about the new opening (unbelievably obnoxious and often counter-productive). Is the minimal buzz they create through this worth it?
Buzz, if used properly, can be a very powerful thing. But everything about the way this has been executed is off strategy. McDonald's core essence is about delivering quality, service and value with an positive attitude and good cheer. The most effective advertising campaign that McDonald's has ever used in Japan is the one that used the catch phrase "Oishii egao, McDonald's." Which, loosely translated, means "Delicious [food that makes you] smile, McDonald's."
But look at the store design (the posters and consumer promo collateral employed the same black and red theme). Here they are, turning the white, clean, modern, open and approachable image of McDonald's into something like a member's-only cabaret or nightclub. They're reaching for maturity and sophistication, but ---- HELLO --- McDonald's is about enjoyment for everybody—not panache—and certainly not mystery and secrecy. In recent years, Mcd's Japan's communications has been all over the place, and it's getting to the point that nobody really knows what they're trying to be.
For the time being, the brand is so dominant in Japan, it makes little difference what they do communications-wise, assuming they don't go completely off the deep end. As long as prices are right and the quality is maintained, people will keep buying, especially during tough economic times. What they're forgetting, however, is that something very important is being lost with these strategic missteps. That is the emotional connection people used to have with the brand.
Don't think an unknown, untested brand can come out of nowhere to knock the giant off its feet? Just take a look at what happened in just two years during the recent US presidential election.
