McDonald’s customers apparently like cheap food and cups with nostalgic designs.
Data from a variety of sources suggests that the Chicago-based fast-food giant has quickly improved its traffic fortunes, thanks largely to a pair of marketing efforts: A $5 Meal Deal offered this summer and Collector’s Cups.
According to data from the foot traffic tracking firm Placer.ai, for instance, traffic at McDonald’s was up five of six weeks from early July to mid-August, after the introduction of the meal deal. Before that, traffic had declined 12 of 13 weeks.
The meal deal on its own appears to have helped the company overcome talk about the chain’s prices.
At the very least, the deal seemed to resonate with consumers. According to the data firm Numerator, 70% of McDonald’s customers said they visited the chain in part because of the deal, and 58% said they chose McDonald’s over a different restaurant because of that offer.
And 91% of people who bought the value meal said they would likely buy it again.
It isn’t just value. McDonald’s last month started selling meals featuring the Collector's Cups, which feature different designs meant to tap into consumer nostalgia regarding the chain and some of its marketing in the past, such as Barbie and Hot Wheels and Beanie Babies.
Those cups proved to be an instant hit. Guillaume Huin, senior marketing director, said on the social media site X—we still prefer to call it Twitter—that the cups were “literally flying off the shelves faster than anything we could have anticipated.” The cups can still be found on eBay.
🚨A message to McDonald's US fans🚨
— Guillaume Huin (@HuinGuillaume) August 16, 2024
The Collector Cups are literally flying off the shelves faster than anything we could have anticipated or have seen in the past.
Friendly advice : if you want them, go to your local restaurant as soon as you can. pic.twitter.com/mLsj0ocnqv
The combination of data and anecdotal evidence suggest that McDonald’s marketing efforts over the summer have helped to relieve, at least for now, some of the sales and traffic concerns that hit the chain earlier this year.
Traffic at quick-service chains has been falling over the past year-plus as consumers, concerned about prices and inflation, have cut back on dining. McDonald’s in particular was a focal point of much of this. Users on social media decried the chain’s prices. An $18 Big Mac meal at a Connecticut rest stop went viral. One study falsely said that the chain’s prices doubled since 2019.
The noise grew so loud that it prompted McDonald’s to say in May that its prices increased 40% since 2019, prices that simply kept pace with its franchisees’ higher costs.
But it also influenced the chain’s sales. Same-store sales slowed from 8.1% in the third quarter of last year to a decline of 0.7% last quarter.
That prompted the company to shift its strategy to focus more on value. The company convinced franchisees, with the help of Coca-Cola, to offer the meal deal, featuring a choice of a McChicken or McDouble along with a four-piece Chicken McNuggets, small fries and a small drink.
But, the company said, its marketing isn’t limited to value. “We’ve got a lot of other levers,” CEO Chris Kempczinski told analysts in late July. “This is not all about value.”
And thus the company introduced the cups, continuing the chain’s focus on nostalgia, which has helped it generate sales in the past, such as with adult versions of its Happy Meals that the chain sold last year.
McDonald’s has other efforts coming, too. Many of the chain’s markets are bringing back the Steak, Egg & Cheese Bagel at breakfast, a product that has generated a strong cult following among customers. A Facebook group devoted to the product in recent days has followed the reintroduction of that product at various locations in Minnesota, for instance.
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