In India, McDonald’s has positioned itself as a family restaurant. Family has become the cornerstone of its strategy. Its outlets are called “McDonald’s Family Restaurants,” as opposed to simply McDonald’s as in other parts of the world. McDonald’s restaurants provide a clean, comfortable, and stress-free environment especially suited for working families. With India’s changing family system in metropolitan cities, where the extended family is no longer the preferred way of living, McDonald’s has become an attractive place for working and busy young parents on weekdays.
On weekends, residents of Delhi and Mumbai bring their children to McDonald’s so that they can relax, while their children play in McDonald’s hugely popular play places. Like its other worldwide locations, McDonald’s targets children as their main clientele in India. Children in India may not have the purchasing power comparable to their Western counterparts, but they are still the center of the universe in the Indian family system, and they can actually pull the parents to visit a place time and again. Children are an enormously powerful medium for relationship building in India.
They not only influence markets in terms of the parental decision-making to buy certain kinds of products, they are also future consumers. After all, brand impressions, once formed, can stay for a lifetime. Thus, McDonald’s has done everything possible to attract children. When one of its outlets was opened in South Mumbai, a children’s parade was organized all along the popular Marine Drive, led by McDonald’s mascot, Ronald, who was accompanied by a 40-feet long float depicting the various tourist destinations in Mumbai. Its “Happy Meals” and the accompanying Lego toys are a great attraction for children.
McDonald’s play places—appropriately called Fun Zones—appeal to children and their parents, because they are considered safe, reliable, hygienic, and kid-friendly. Kids like McDonald’s outlets because they are brightly lit and full of young people. During their visits, kids are showered with knickknacks. The Noida outlet near Delhi even has a low-height order counter for children. McDonald’s outlets provide the kids with a hassle-free experience where no one tells them “sit down,” “don’t move,” or “keep out of my way.” McDonald’s also promotes birthday parties complete with cake, candles, and toys in television advertising aimed directly at kids. In some Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore, birthday parties are all the rage for upwardly mobile youngsters. Given that most young people in these cities live in small, overcrowded flats, McDonald’s has become a convenient and welcoming place for birthday celebrations.
McDonald’s has become a popular place for many jean-clad teenagers, who use the outlet as avenue to meet their boyfriends/girlfriends, still a tricky issue among Indian middle-class families.McDonald’s appeals to India’s new Westernized elites because its food is clean, safe, and reliable. India’s upwardly mobile middle-class families show considerable interest in enjoying what is often described as McDonald’s terminology for products that are temporarily added to the menu.
the “McDonald’s experience”—i.e., eating McDonald’s food in a clean, friendly, and fun-filled environment with quick and accurate services. McDonald’s offers attractive new promotions from time to time to attract more young adults to its outlets. One such promotion—“Music Meal,” launched in April 2005 in association with Coca- Cola India and Universal Music India—became extremely popular with young men and women.
Through this promotional campaign, young people were offered free tickets to an exclusive hugely popular Bombay Vikings show upon collection of four McDonald’s mini-CDs, which come with a large meal combo order. By engaging young customers with fun and new promotions that are in tune with their changing desires, McDonald’s has been able to increase its business volume considerably over the past years.
McDonald’s has introduced other innovations that appeal to customers of all ages in India. In some of its newly opened restaurants, McDonald’s has provided lounges for senior citizens to relax and taste its food. For people used to a traditional restaurant environment, in which waiters lead patrons to sitting places, McDonald’s in Delhi’s residential areas has made special arrangements, where several crewmembers are present to direct families to available sitting places. Most Indians love to have sweet desserts after a meal. Keeping this in mind, McDonald’s has opened several very popular Cold Kiosks in Mumbai and Delhi. These Cold Kiosks, which are located either inside the main outlet or adjacent to the McDonald’s outlet, offer customers an innovative range of cold desserts such as ice creams with unusual flavors like bubble gum, green apple, and peach. Most Indians believe in fate, and fate-driven success or failure is a way of life. There may not be frequent discussion in public discourse, but the powerful concept of Karma in Hinduism and reward for good Karma still continues to be a critical and almost subconscious determinant of Indian social existence.
Not surprisingly, one of McDonald’s most popular attractions has been the instant scratchand- win prizes on a daily and weekly basis. The daily drawn prizes include color televisions, cell phones, Panasonic camcorders, VCRs, music systems, microwave ovens, and even scooters. The weekly prizes promise a family vacation to various places outside India. There is also a monthly jackpot prize of a Mahindra Bolero jeep and other high-ticketed items available. Aptly named the “Lucky Itch,” these prizes have become enormously popular for the fate-driven Indian psyche, i.e., “if you are lucky, you are successful and win big.” For people who still want to eat at home or are unable to visit restaurants because of lack of transportation, traffic jams, and overcrowded eating places, McDonald’s has introduced its popular home-delivery (McDelivery) services. For another section of rich middle-class families in Delhi and Mumbai who prefer to enjoy watching movies, cricket matches at home, or just for plain relaxation away from cooking, McDonald’s home-delivery services (where food is delivered usually hot) have become popular and convenient. McDonald’s has achieved about a 15% increase in sales as a result of starting home deliveries from some of its stores. Also the Baby Ronald it potrayed in its advertisment
On weekends, residents of Delhi and Mumbai bring their children to McDonald’s so that they can relax, while their children play in McDonald’s hugely popular play places. Like its other worldwide locations, McDonald’s targets children as their main clientele in India. Children in India may not have the purchasing power comparable to their Western counterparts, but they are still the center of the universe in the Indian family system, and they can actually pull the parents to visit a place time and again. Children are an enormously powerful medium for relationship building in India.
They not only influence markets in terms of the parental decision-making to buy certain kinds of products, they are also future consumers. After all, brand impressions, once formed, can stay for a lifetime. Thus, McDonald’s has done everything possible to attract children. When one of its outlets was opened in South Mumbai, a children’s parade was organized all along the popular Marine Drive, led by McDonald’s mascot, Ronald, who was accompanied by a 40-feet long float depicting the various tourist destinations in Mumbai. Its “Happy Meals” and the accompanying Lego toys are a great attraction for children.
McDonald’s play places—appropriately called Fun Zones—appeal to children and their parents, because they are considered safe, reliable, hygienic, and kid-friendly. Kids like McDonald’s outlets because they are brightly lit and full of young people. During their visits, kids are showered with knickknacks. The Noida outlet near Delhi even has a low-height order counter for children. McDonald’s outlets provide the kids with a hassle-free experience where no one tells them “sit down,” “don’t move,” or “keep out of my way.” McDonald’s also promotes birthday parties complete with cake, candles, and toys in television advertising aimed directly at kids. In some Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore, birthday parties are all the rage for upwardly mobile youngsters. Given that most young people in these cities live in small, overcrowded flats, McDonald’s has become a convenient and welcoming place for birthday celebrations.
McDonald’s has become a popular place for many jean-clad teenagers, who use the outlet as avenue to meet their boyfriends/girlfriends, still a tricky issue among Indian middle-class families.McDonald’s appeals to India’s new Westernized elites because its food is clean, safe, and reliable. India’s upwardly mobile middle-class families show considerable interest in enjoying what is often described as McDonald’s terminology for products that are temporarily added to the menu.
the “McDonald’s experience”—i.e., eating McDonald’s food in a clean, friendly, and fun-filled environment with quick and accurate services. McDonald’s offers attractive new promotions from time to time to attract more young adults to its outlets. One such promotion—“Music Meal,” launched in April 2005 in association with Coca- Cola India and Universal Music India—became extremely popular with young men and women.
Through this promotional campaign, young people were offered free tickets to an exclusive hugely popular Bombay Vikings show upon collection of four McDonald’s mini-CDs, which come with a large meal combo order. By engaging young customers with fun and new promotions that are in tune with their changing desires, McDonald’s has been able to increase its business volume considerably over the past years.
McDonald’s has introduced other innovations that appeal to customers of all ages in India. In some of its newly opened restaurants, McDonald’s has provided lounges for senior citizens to relax and taste its food. For people used to a traditional restaurant environment, in which waiters lead patrons to sitting places, McDonald’s in Delhi’s residential areas has made special arrangements, where several crewmembers are present to direct families to available sitting places. Most Indians love to have sweet desserts after a meal. Keeping this in mind, McDonald’s has opened several very popular Cold Kiosks in Mumbai and Delhi. These Cold Kiosks, which are located either inside the main outlet or adjacent to the McDonald’s outlet, offer customers an innovative range of cold desserts such as ice creams with unusual flavors like bubble gum, green apple, and peach. Most Indians believe in fate, and fate-driven success or failure is a way of life. There may not be frequent discussion in public discourse, but the powerful concept of Karma in Hinduism and reward for good Karma still continues to be a critical and almost subconscious determinant of Indian social existence.
Not surprisingly, one of McDonald’s most popular attractions has been the instant scratchand- win prizes on a daily and weekly basis. The daily drawn prizes include color televisions, cell phones, Panasonic camcorders, VCRs, music systems, microwave ovens, and even scooters. The weekly prizes promise a family vacation to various places outside India. There is also a monthly jackpot prize of a Mahindra Bolero jeep and other high-ticketed items available. Aptly named the “Lucky Itch,” these prizes have become enormously popular for the fate-driven Indian psyche, i.e., “if you are lucky, you are successful and win big.” For people who still want to eat at home or are unable to visit restaurants because of lack of transportation, traffic jams, and overcrowded eating places, McDonald’s has introduced its popular home-delivery (McDelivery) services. For another section of rich middle-class families in Delhi and Mumbai who prefer to enjoy watching movies, cricket matches at home, or just for plain relaxation away from cooking, McDonald’s home-delivery services (where food is delivered usually hot) have become popular and convenient. McDonald’s has achieved about a 15% increase in sales as a result of starting home deliveries from some of its stores. Also the Baby Ronald it potrayed in its advertisment