A Missed McOpportunity
You don’t need to be a reputation expert to see that the recent ‘McWhopper’ peace offering Burger King made to McDonald’s was less an authentic love-in and more a massive marketing ploy. And it was a very effective one. Far from being the start of a beautiful new relationship between the two fast food giants, the McWhopper offer has exposed how brands must be authentic to themselves at all times, or face the consequences.
McDonald’s CEO Steve Eastbrook has said that the organisation is transforming into a “modern, progressive burger company.” Part of that transformation has been adopting an appropriate social media personality. McDonald’s social media personality is fun loving. They joke! They play games! They’re fun! They treat all of the hate that they get in the comments with panache! They have an established social media personality that people appear to connect with.
Enter Burger King. They’ve focused on burgers. And, after a history of being a bit weird, they’re doing it with humour. So their leftfield ‘McWhopper’ ad, ostensibly a way to promote Peace One Day’s ‘Peace Day’, makes complete sense — it’s true to their brand and their customer.
More than 43,000 people tweeted about the ‘McWhopper’. People loved it. People wanted it. Everyone praised good guy Burger King, whose hand waited, extended, for McDonald’s to join it in a greasy handshake that would be felt the world over.
But that didn’t happen — and McDonald’s response was in stark contrast to their usual tone. The response wasn’t communicated in the usual way that McDonald’s communicates on social. It wasn’t communicated with images, or any hint of fun. They responded with a prim letter from the CEO on their Facebook page.
After analogising their rivalry with ‘the real pain and suffering of war,’ CEO Steve dismissed the proposal. You could actually feel his lips pursing. And McDonalds’ customer base responded incredibly negatively. It’s not clear if it was an actual bloodbath or whether loads of ketchup sachets had been sprayed across the Golden Arches’ tiled floors.
Of course CEO Steve was never going to say ‘yes’. Burger King knew that. But McDonald’s missed an opportunity to have some fun and thereby stay true to their brand. A more authentic, fun, lighthearted response would have strengthened the bond that the company has with its customers. As it was, the social response was inauthentic. It did not have the same voice as every other post on the McDonald’s Facebook page. It did not have the same humour. It wasn’t what the audience were used to. It wasn’t how the audience identified with the brand on social. So they kicked off.
The importance of creating, cultivating and maintaining an authentic brand on social is paramount. McDonald’s just found that out.
Dave Bennett will be part of the SMW panel on “Retaining Authenticity when working with brands” which is free to attend on the 15th of September at Bankside 2, London, SE1 0SW. Register to attend here.
