Sex, Beef and the Quarter Pounder in China
December 17th, 2008
Check out this Wall Street Journal article on McDonald’s Strategy in China. It’s a hoot to read. Who would have thought beef could be sooo “sexy”? Yaaaah Baaabby!
On a serious note, I will try to get you into a KFC, Pizza Hut or McDonalds or two while were are in China or India. This article does a great job laying out some of the differences you will see there in such stores, and why, and how to localize these types of multinational products for an emerging market.
For example, after reading this article, you should better understand why you see chicken (and fish) everywhere in China (and dog in Canton, now Guangzhou), and not as much beef (too expensive for most folks).
Your thoughts?
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, China, Misc.
2 Comments Add your own
1. Kerry | December 7th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
The new McDonalds ads are very different from the ads/commercials I saw on TV in China a few years ago. They had the “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign in China as well as in the States and hired a popular Taiwanese singer (Wong LeeHom) for the campaign.
It is interesting to see how American global brands market their products in foreign countries. Sometimes they use the same world-wide tactic such as the “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign or different strategies as in the new sexier ads for China. Pepsi Cola used the same “big celebrity” campaign strategy in the US and in China when I was there. Pepsi had hired Beyonce and other singers for the US while China’s ads had basketball star Yao Ming and a popular Taiwanese singer Jay Chou. I just heard that Levi’s just launched a new ad campaign in Asia featuring popular Korean singer BoA (she is a clean version of Britney Spears of Asia).
McDonalds is actually behind KFC in popularity and marketshare in China. KFC outnumbers McDonalds by far. I have seen two KFCs on the same block within view from each other (similar to the proliferation of Starbucks in America).
American fast food chains are popular in China because they are viewed as “bourgeois” and are aspirational brands. When enough Chinese become middle class and the ill effects of obesity becomes apparent, I’m sure that the appeal will fade.
2. Xiaofei Song | March 19th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Both McDonald and KFC have very success marketing strategy in China. They attracted millions of customers everyday. And you can see, their restaurants are the hardest place to find a seat most of the time. At some point, they did a very good job to be more customer friendly, and localized their product to satisfy more customers need. Plus, I think the most important is their customer service in China, which makes a huge difference compare to the service they have over here.
As a lot of people tell me, Chinese are very tradition and it is hard to see something related to sex on the commercial. McDonald, a business target most toward Children, did it. The commercial makes beef to be sexy, but it is still a huge improvement and Chinese consumer actually accepts it. Very impressive article!
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