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IBS Center for Management Research

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McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

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This case was written by Geeta Singh and Indu Perepu, IBS Hyderabad. It was compiled from

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published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion rather than to
illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation.

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 2014, IBS Center for Management Research. All rights reserved.

To order copies, call +91 9640901313 or write to IBS Center for Management Research (ICMR), IFHE Campus, Donthanapally,
Sankarapally Road, Hyderabad 501 203, Andhra Pradesh, India or email: info@icmrindia.org

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McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with

Customers
“People get excited about McDonald’s food so we are always challenging
ourselves to figure out how we can connect our yummy food to the social ST
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conversations that they drive. Combining offline and online opportunities also

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allows us to connect national marketing efforts with local promotions. Interesting
new functionality from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Vine also show fun
potential to easily engage with our fans and share their excitement…even if they
don’t share their fries.”1

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– Rick Wion, Director of social media, McDonald’s Corp., in 2013.

INTRODUCTION
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In October 2013, Atif Rafiq joined the US-based fast food company McDonald’s Corporation

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(McDonald’s) as the Chief Digital Officer. This position was created with the view to building up
the company’s digital strategy to keep the customers engaged with the brand. According to Steve
Easterbrook, Chief Brand Officer of McDonald’s, “Consumers visit and interact with our brand in
multiple ways -- and digital continues to grow increasingly important to them.” He added, "Atif

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will lead a more coordinated and comprehensive digital strategy for our global organization as we
deepen our connection with our customers.”2
McDonald’s was incorporated in the 1930s and went on to become one of the largest fast food
companies in the world with a presence in 119 countries across the world as of 2014. With the
advent of the digital era, McDonald’s started connecting with customers online through various

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social media websites, apart from its own websites.
Two major platforms of social media followed by McDonald’s were Twitter and Facebook. Based

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on the customer engagement on these platforms, various strategies and processes were developed
from time to time and these helped McDonald’s in building customer loyalty. The company used

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these websites to communicate with the customers, keep them engaged with the happenings in the
company, and to indulge in interesting conversations with the customers. Its success on these
platforms encouraged it to use other technologies like Geolocation to remain connected. It also

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ventured into other social media like Pinterest, and Instagram to showcase its global presence and
localized menus in different markets.

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McDonald’s received both positive feedback and negative comments on the social sites. While it
earned many experiences and increased its client base, it got a taste of the other side of social
media when some of its campaigns backfired and it ended up receiving huge negative publicity.
But the company remained unperturbed and continued to find new ways of remaining in touch
with the customers.

1
Rick Wion, “4 Insights from McDonald’s Director of Social Media,” www.pivotcon.com, February 2013.
2
Maureen Morrison, “McDonald's Names Atif Rafiq Its First Chief Digital Officer,” http://adage.com,
October 03, 2013.

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 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

BACKGROUND NOTE

The origins of McDonald’s date back to the 1930s when two brothers, Richard “Dick” J.
McDonald and Maurice “Mac” McDonald, opened a restaurant called Airdrome in Arcadia,
California, that sold hot dogs, tea, and coffee. Buoyed by the good response to their first
restaurant, the brothers decided to expand their business. In 1940, they opened the McDonald’s
Barbecue restaurant in San Bernardino, California. The barbeque restaurant had about 25 items on
its menu like barbecued beef and pork sandwiches. It employed 20 carhops3 to provide food

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service to customers.
After running the barbecue restaurant successfully for eight years, the brothers found it difficult to
manage such a large scale business with its extensive menus and staff, and the huge crowds
thronging the restaurant. In 1948, they decided to scale down operations. They shortened the menu
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to only hamburgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, and drinks and developed a process to make these
quickly with fewer resources. The process increased the service speed, helping them serve more

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customers in the same amount of time. The carhops were eliminated to make McDonald’s a self-
serve operation. The savings in preparation time and the resulting increase in volume allowed
McDonald’s to lower the price of a hamburger from 30 cents to 15 cents4.

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On December 12, 1948, the new revamped McDonald’s restaurant opened. It focused on speed of
service, mass production, and lower prices. The restaurant’s mascot was a man with a chef’s hat on

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top of a hamburger shaped head whose name was ‘Speedee’. The service system used in these
restaurants was known as the ‘Speedee Service System’, and it established the principles of
McDonald’s fast food restaurants, which were later adopted by several fast food restaurants.

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In 1953, the McDonald brothers decided to go in for franchising in order to expand their business.
For a thousand dollars, franchisees would receive the McDonald’s name, a basic description of
their service system, and the services of Art Bender 5 (Bender) at the new restaurant for a week to
help them with the business. Bender trained the people at the franchisee, supervised the installation
of the equipment, made contact with the butchers and bakeries for the supplies, etc.

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McDonald’s first franchisee was Neil Fox, who had a drive-in restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona. This

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restaurant became the prototype for the McDonald’s chain. The red & white building with a
slanting roof and the ‘Golden Arches’ on the sides became the model for McDonald’s restaurants.
In the years that followed, McDonald’s grew from strength to strength and by the mid-1950s, the

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fast food chain’s annual revenues were US$ 350,000. Word about its success spread quickly and a
cover story about its operations even appeared in American Restaurant Magazine in 1952.

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In 1954, Ray Kroc (Kroc), a salesman for a company that manufactured milkshake mixers, noticed
that one of his largest customers was a California-based restaurant owned by the McDonald

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brothers. Kroc found out that they used a system resembling an assembly line system for making
hamburgers and sandwiches and that the restaurant already used eight milkshake machines.
Sensing an opportunity for more business, he went to meet the McDonald brothers. One look at the
orderly, efficient restaurant that served a huge customer base was enough to convince him that he

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could sell the milkshake mixers to every McDonald’s store that opened. The purpose of the visit
was to persuade the McDonald brothers to open more restaurants so that he could sell milkshake

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mixers to them. But the brothers were not interested in expanding the business further and seemed
content with the existing operations. Kroc then expressed his willingness to become the
franchising agent of McDonald’s restaurants.

3
A carhop is a waiter or waitress who delivers food to customers in their cars at drive-in restaurants.
Carhops originated in the 1940s when drive-in eateries were popular.
4
At that time, 80 percent of the restaurant’s sales were generated by hamburgers.
5
Art Bender was associated with the McDonald brothers and was credited with serving the first
McDonald’s hamburger at their San Bernardino store. He later became a franchisee of McDonald’s.

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 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

Kroc applied the knowledge that he had garnered as a salesman to create a successful franchising
business. He retained McDonald’s formula of a limited menu, high quality, production system, fast
service, and adherence to cleanliness. Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value (QSC&V) went on
to become McDonald’s operating principles. Under Kroc’s management, McDonald’s became one
of the largest fast food chains in the US (Refer to Exhibit I for a brief note on McDonald’s
growth).
In 2003, McDonald’s introduced a program called ‘Plan to Win’. Under the ‘Plan to win’ program,
it redefined its approach to growth and the focus was shifted from adding more restaurants to

aggressive goals and all the plans were aligned with the ‘Plan to Win’. The success was measured
by critical drivers of the customer’s experiences – people, products, price, place, and promotion.
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adding more customers in the existing restaurants. In order to reflect a strategic shift, the company
reduced its capital expenditures by US $ 700 million.6 The ‘Plan to Win’ program contained

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Under the program, McDonald’s aimed to have well trained people and the right products within

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the affordable price range, make and present its outlets as clean, contemporary, and welcoming,
and do promotions that would resonate with customer groups. McDonald’s improved on many
parameters, from its restaurant operations and food taste attributes to adding new items on the
menu as per customers’ wishes and demands.

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By 2004, McDonald’s continued following its ‘Plan to Win’ program and it worked to create a

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significant impact on the speed, accuracy, and friendliness of its services. The total revenues
increased from US $ 18.6 billion in 2004 to US $ 21.6 billion in 2006.7
Till 2009, McDonald’s reaped the fruits of the ‘Plan to Win. Though it was not considered as a

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perfect plan by many, McDonald’s believed in the program and succeeded with it. 8 (Refer to
Exhibit III for Total Revenues if McDonald’s, 2007-2012)

FORAY INTO SOCIAL MEDIA

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Since 2006, Rich Wion (Wion) had been handling the social-media projects of McDonald’s and he
established the company’s digital strategy. 9 Wion became the founding member of the company’s
digital task force. In 2006, he handled a publicity tour for Sarah Ferguson10 and Ronald McDonald
House Charities (RMHC)11. For the project, Wion and his team developed a travel journal. 12
According to Wion, the main challenges ahead of McDonald’s as far as social media was

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concerned were, “How do we continue to engage the scores of fans that continually profess a love
for our food and our brand? Then, how do we react to our critics? We know that we need a very

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thoughtful approach in both areas.”13
McDonald’s identified some bloggers who could help the company spread its messages across

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different communities and indirectly promote and publicize its offerings. Wion said, “Bloggers,
and specifically mom bloggers, talk a lot about McDonald’s. They’re customers. They’re going to

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McDonald’s 2003 Summary Annual Report.
McDonald’s 2003 Summary Annual Report.

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8
Mats Lederhausen, “What McDonald's can Teach us About Recovery” http://blogs.hbr.org, July 15,
2009.
9
Emily Bryson York, “McDonald's Names First Social-Media Chief” http://adage.com, April 12, 2010.
10
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, was a global ambassador for World’s Children’s Day in 2006.
11
RMHC, established in 1974, is an organization that runs programs to meet the urgent needs of each
community. As of 2013, it was present in 58 countries across the world.
12
“McDonald's Grows Social Media Effort “ www.porknetwork.com, April 13, 2010.
13
Arun Sudhaman, “Rick Wion: McDonald’s “How do we React to our Critics?”,”
www.holmesreport.com, June 11, 2010.

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restaurants. And even more important, these women have loyal followings. Why not let them
behind the curtain, hope they like what they see, and let them tell readers about it? We identified
them, these are our key customers. These are key influencers for our brand, we need to make sure
we’re working with them.”14
In 2006, a blog was started by the company, called ‘Open for Discussion’. It featured articles on
the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Bob Langert (Langert), Vice President of
CSR at the company, was a frequent contributor to the blog. There were also posts by guest
bloggers from the CSR department and across the country. With a frequency of one post per week,
Langert wrote various blogs on topics which were current and relevant to the audience. 15 One of
the popular blog posts was on the Olympic Games of 2008 that opened a dialogue with several

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customers. Langert, said, “Unbelievable to me is the internal benefit, I think it’s an avenue for our
own people to get how certain people think; we get the good, the bad, and the ugly with comments

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… it helps us to understand what we’re doing more and how we impact society.”16
From 2007, McDonald’s started using its website as a platform where mothers in the US could

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discuss the health benefits of its food. These ladies, known as McMoms, met nutritionists, chefs,
and other persons from McDonald’s to understand the products better, and get to know about their
nutritional value. McMoms were encouraged to share their views and experiences with others

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through sources like downloadable videos, their blogs, online social networking sites, etc. The
McMoms were also able to check new products and supplier facilities. Tina Hoxie, a McMom

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from Michigan, said, “I am a mom of two boys whose health I care deeply about. This program
will help me be assured about the quality of food they eat as well as their spiritual, intellectual, and
emotional well-being.”17 To encourage moms to have their kids eat at McDonald’s, the French
fries in Happy Meal were replaced with apples at some locations.

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Before embracing the social media in a full-fledged manner, the company decided on the level of

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engagement on social media, involved different departments in the social media activities that it
planned to carry out, decided to be open to new and emerging trends on the social media, and also
braced itself to listen to the opinions of different people about its products and services.

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In 2008, McDonald’s became the sponsor of an Olympic themed online game ‘The Lost Ring’.

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Mary Dillon, McDonald’s global Chief Marketing Officer in 2008, said, “The Olympics in Beijing
are a very big event for us, and we have a lot of different types of activation, with The Lost Ring
being the most creative. Our goal is really about strengthening our bond with the global youth

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culture.”18 The game started with 50 bloggers who received packages with a poster and a clue
pointing to the game’s website ‘TheLostRing.com’. After one or two days, the players, while
searching for the clues, found the terms of service which revealed that McDonald’s was a partner

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of the game. By April 2008, the game attracted around 1.5 million people and saw participation
from players of 119 countries. 19

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Jane McGonigal was the leading person behind the creation of ‘The Lost Ring’. She said, “This
(Alternate-Reality Games) ARG extends McDonald's historic sponsorship of the Olympic Games
in a brand-new direction. Its goal is to create global collaboration and bring the spirit of the Games

14
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Kim Bhasin, “McDonald's has Gained a New Ally by Sucking up to this Group Of Bloggers”

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15

16

17
www.businessinsider.com, May 07, 2012.
Michael Sebastian, “CSR is Critical to McDonald’s Employee Communication”
www.hrcommunication.com, August 10, 2008.
Ibid
“McDonald's Launches a Web 2.0 "Viral" Marketing Campaign” www.telecomtv.com, June 29, 2007.
18
Stephanie Clifford, “An Online Game so Mysterious its Famous Sponsor is Hidden” www.nytimes.com,
April 01, 2008.
19
Donna DeClemente, “McDonald’s The Lost Ring Promotes the 2008 Olympics”
www.donnaspromotalk.com, April 18, 2008.

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to people around the world. It will invite players from across the globe to join forces online and in
the real world, as they investigate forgotten mysteries and urban legends of the ancient games.” 20
Through this game, McDonald’s marked its online presence and also got several followers.
With the idea of taking the customer service that McDonald’s was known for online, McDonald’s
USA set up a digital task force in 2008. The task force got inputs at both the strategic and tactical
levels from the marketing and PR departments and the digital and media buying agencies. The
company was of the view that marketing could be directly affected by presence on the internet, and
looked to increase positive sentiment about its menu, make its CSR efforts known, and enhance
customer service by taking inputs from a wide section of people.
In 2010, Wion became the first director of social media of McDonald’s. He emphasized increasing
the positive sentiments around the company’s menu choices, making commitments to the
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customers, and increasing its CSR efforts. Through social media, Wion aimed to improve and
enhance customer service. He wanted to develop a system that could manage the issues appearing
on social media.

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By 2010, Wion developed the idea that transparency was the key to building trust on social media.
He believed in a collaborative working of social media leadership with PR and marketing where

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PR’s leadership could help in building trust while marketing could help in bringing creativity.

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The social media team in the company worked closely with the other departments like marketing
and communications to come up with a social media strategy that encouraged consumer
engagement. The company also developed processes for targeted engagement and customer loyalty
through social media.

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Social media provided McDonald’s with an insight on existing and new products, its competitors,
and influencers. The company had always utilized the conversations on social media to take its
business and brand further.

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The millennial population in the age group of 18-32 years, according to McDonald’s, was the most
attractive segment of the population. In order to attract this segment and secure long-term support
from it, McDonald’s felt the need to be more active and engaging on social sites like Facebook and
Twitter.21

TWITTER

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McDonald’s Twitter handle @McDonalds, was created in 2009 to provide customers with the
latest news about the company and its promotions.

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In 2009, McCafe, its new product platform, was launched. On Twitter, it was widely promoted
through various offers of gifts and prizes. For those with a Visa card, McDonald's provided
summer giveaways. Moreover, if the customers wrote at least 100 words about why McDonald's

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should ‘McCafe your day’, they were eligible to win a grand prize of US$50,000 which was
awarded to at least two customers. Danya Proud, a spokeswoman of McDonald’s, said Twitter was

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“a key opportunity for listening, responding, and conversing with our customers about their
experiences with McCafe.”22 This helped McDonald’s attract several customers and also to
increase the number of its Twitter followers.

20
Daniel Terdiman, “McDonald's is Lead Sponsor of Olympics-Themed ARG, 'The Lost Ring'”
http://news.cnet.com, March 06, 2008.
21
Maureen Morrison, “McDonald's has a Millennial Problem” http://adage.com, March 25, 2013.
22
Emily Bryson York, “Take Cover! Marketing Blitz for McCafe is on the Way” http://adage.com, May 01,
2009.

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McRib23 had been one of the popular products of McDonald’s that rapidly attracted a fan base. In a
press release in 2005, McDonald’s declared that the product would permanently be removed from
its menu. The declaration was followed by a ‘McRib Farewell Tour’. The tour became a viral
campaign. The product was brought back by 2006, and the McRib Farewell Tour II was conducted
in 2006. In 2007, the third farewell ‘McRib Farewell Tour III’ was launched. However in 2010,
McRib made its comeback online through Twitter.24
With the message posted in 2010, “Turns out we’re not good at keeping secrets. The rumors are
true. McRib returns Nov. 2 for a limited time @McDonalds NATIONWIDE!”, McDonalds
announced the return of McRib on its menu. 25 Commenting on the online advertisement, Wion
said the “ (ad) drove huge engagement with our customers…we saw tons of occasions where folks
who had never eaten a McRib tweeted that they were going to try it for the first time to see what
the buzz was all about.”26 However, McRib also received a bevy of negative responses. But the
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company said that overall, overwhelmingly positive responses were achieved.

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In 2010, a campaign ‘Day of Change’ was launched, in order to motivate people to donate for a
good cause at their local restaurants. Clara Carrier, PR & Marketing Manager Communications
and Special Programs, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), said, “Social media allows us
to 1engage with supporters and families in a very direct, authentic, and immediate way. From an

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awareness standpoint, from an educational standpoint, and by positioning the charity in the
marketplace as one that engages and shares in an authentic way what our story is… social media

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allows us to do that in very effective way.”27 On Twitter alone, 261 Twitter supporters shared 1465
RMHC Day of Change hashtags. There was a 130% increase in online donations during the
campaign across all the locations. 28 The conversations over the social media like Twitter helped

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RMHC make its brand stronger.
For RMHC at Twitter, there were about 5000 followers (global page) and more than 50,000 across
all chapters as of 2011.

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McDonald’s Corp was one of the famous accounts of McDonald’s on Twitter. This account

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focused on the company’s history, its food, its people, and news from all its restaurants across the
world. As of 2012, the McDonald’s Corp account had nearly 21,000 followers. The company paid
attention to its users and retweeted some of their tweets from time to time. It did not use this
account to advertise to the users; it used it more as a communications tool.

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In January 2012, McDonald’s launched two Twitter campaigns – the #mcdstories and
#meetthefarmers. The campaign was launched with the aim of presenting heart-winning stories.

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The #meetthefarmers campaign was expected to highlight the stories of the farmers who supplied
the raw material used in preparing the McDonald’s meal.29 Under this campaign, videos of several
farmers producing potatoes, lettuces, etc for McDonald’s were uploaded on social media. About

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95% of the videos showed only the stories of the farmers and their life story, not promotion of
McDonald’s products.30 Regarding the campaign, Wion said, “We have these great stories, we
23

24

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McRib were actually a restructured pork product of McDonald’s molded into the shape of ribs.
Lauren Dugan, “McDonald’s vs. TeamCoco: Why Some Twitter Campaigns Fail Miserably and Others

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25

26

27
Rock” www.mediabistro.com, November 09, 2010.
Lauren Dugan, “McDonald’s vs. TeamCoco: Why Some Twitter Campaigns Fail Miserably and Others
Rock” www.mediabistro.com, November 09, 2010.
Christopher Heine, “McDonald's #McRib Is Back on Twitter Grill” www.clickz.com, October 25, 2011.
Casey Hibbard, “Social Storytelling Boosts Donations for Ronald McDonald House Charities”
www.socialmediaexaminer.com, April 27, 2011.
28
Ibid
29
“McDonald’s gets Social Media” www.davidajacobs.com, June 21, 2012.
30
Ibid

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have very tight relationships with our supply chain. It was a matter of looking back to our supply-
chain partners and saying, 'There are lots of farmers that supply McDonald's; let's find some that
represent a good cross-section of all we have.”31 It promoted the real stories of the suppliers and
their healthy ingredients and was meant to highlight only the farmers. However, the campaign did
not perform as well as expected.
In 2012, McDonald’s had a follower base of 342,000 on Twitter. As of 2012, it had 10 Twitter
representatives who signed their tweets with their initials and posted status updates. Wion said,
“People want to connect with actual people on Twitter. Instead of sounding like an automated
machine, the company’s account is personal and heartfelt.”32 McDonald’s recorded mentions of
250,000 to 300,000 per week in 2012.33 Often, the representatives sent handwritten notes to
customers who posted their complaints on Twitter.
Between January and April 2012, McDonald’s enjoyed a 118% growth of followers on Twitter. ST
34

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In November 2012, on the launch of its new bacon product, the Cheddar Bacon Onion sandwich,

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McDonald’s came out with a Twitter promotion. The sandwich had toppings of white cheddar,
grilled onion, and mustard sauce. The campaign used for the product – ‘Your Daily Bacon’ –
consisted of images of air fresheners, ties, lanterns, and other daily use items, with bacon

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occupying a prominent place. This generated a lot of interest among followers and became one of
the top trending topics in November 2012.

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As of 2013, on Twitter, McDonald’s was receiving 5 mentions per second, adding up to 430000
mentions a day. It had around 995,000 followers on its Twitter account. One of the attractive
features of McDonald’s on its Twitter account was its personalized replies. The company spent

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time on replying to individual questions, comments, and compliments and avoided auto-tweets,
promotions, and scheduled contents.35

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McDonald’s had a dedicated customer service feed at Twitter, which responded exclusively to
customer complaints alone. However its low rate of response implied that a large number of

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complaints might have remained unanswered on Twitter. Customer service issues were handled in
Twitter through the handle @Reachout_McD. The special customer centric account was launched
specially for dealing with customers’ queries and issues. The handle was dedicated to listen, help,
and answer customers’ question seven days a week between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm. 36 As of March
2014, @Reachout_McD had nearly 4700 followers.

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Twitter accounted for 80% of McDonald’s social mentions, and was the most used social media
platform in the company.

FACEBOOK
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McDonald’s was extremely active on Facebook and various campaigns were introduced on this
platform from time to time. The top of the Facebook page of McDonald’s featured seasonally
popular items. Depending on the weather and the time of the year, pictures of new products were

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posted. During summer iced coffee was shown, while during winters, hot coffee and hot chocolate

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31
Matt Wilson, “McDonald's Exec: 'You don't Control' Social Media” www.prdaily.com, May 22, 2012.
32
“I’m Tweetin’ It! A Look at McDonald’s Twitter Strategy” http://contently.com, April 06, 2012.
33
“How Kraft, McDonald's, Sears are Doing Social Media Right” www.chicagobusiness.com, January 02,
2012.
34
Sheila Shayon, “Study: How McDonald's Masters Engagement on Social Media”
www.brandchannel.com, July 18, 2012.
35
John Souza, “6 Tips Used by McDonald's to Keep their Fans Engaged”
http://socialmediamarketinguniversity.com, November 18, 2011.
36
https://twitter.com/Reachout_mcd

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or a Frappe occupied a prominent place. There were several videos which showed how the
company procured raw materials, and how the food was made. The Facebook page also featured
some old classical advertisements of McDonald’s. The page was updated regularly with attractive
pictures of McDonald’s products and also those of customers enjoying their time at McDonald’s.
The conversations initiated by the company, sparked a lot of discussion.
The official page of McDonald’s gained roughly between 5,000 and 20,000 fans a day in August
2009. In 2010, the ‘Day of Change’ campaign that ran only for 28 days drew some 180,000
interactions on the Facebook pages. The RMHC website too attracted 85,670 fans (global page)
and more than 150,000 across all chapters.37 Lauren Fischer, McDonald’s primary voice for
RMHC on Facebook and Twitter, opined that sharing the company’s own stories on Facebook had
encouraged the fans to post their experiences more freely. RHMC had been reporting regularly to
the board of McDonald’s regarding the results of their marketing efforts. For example, a 1400%
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increase in Facebook interactions had contributed toward a 13% rise in website traffic in 2010
alone.
The RMHC team created a ‘Facebook event for September 9’, encouraging people to contribute
spare change donations at their McDonald’s locations. The event had a viral effect and there were
around 5,500 registrations for the event.

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In 2010, McDonald’s signed up with Facebook for its location feature – the Geolocation.38 The
Geolocation app also enabled customers to check in39 at McDonald’s restaurants and receive

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coupons for the featured product of the day. Using this feature, users could update their location
details using mobiles.

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To mark the return of the popular McRib Sandwich in 2011, McDonald’s came out with a digital
game ‘The Quest for the Golden McRib’ on Facebook. The game involved a quest for ten virtual

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McRib sandwiches. These were hidden in ten restaurants around the world, and customers had to
hunt for them with the help of Google maps and the clues provided during the game. The clues
were provided by several characters like unicorns that liked barbeques, Viking accountants, ninja

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ballerinas, sky pirates, etc., which posed questions, riddles, and challenges. The participants who
found the hidden McRibs were given digital badges, and could share their scores online.
In 2012, from April 17 to May 29, McDonald’s, along with its advertising agency DDB, launched
an exclusive Facebook campaign encouraging people to enjoy their lunch hour at McDonald’s.

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The tagline of this launch was ‘it’s your lunch, take it’, and it was supported with slogans like ‘say
no to crumbs on the keyboard’. According to Brian Johnson, sales director at Facebook, the goal of
the campaign was, “to drive traffic in particular during the lunch, and also to focus on the premium

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products—Angus Burgers and premium chicken sandwiches—boosting sales and interest in those
products during that daypart as well as throughout the day and other dayparts.” 40 It targeted 18-49-

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year-old customers in the US. It inspired the people to take a small break from their routine and to
enjoy lunch in the casual and comfortable atmosphere of the McDonald’s restaurants. Clicking on
the ads posted on Facebook took users to a dedicated page with videos and images, where they

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could share their support for the idea. Different photo images, posts, questions and video posts
were updated and all these together helped to keep people engaged.

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After the campaign, McDonald’s reported an increase in sales and the number of customers. The
return on investment (ROI) of this campaign was four, testimony to the huge success of the
campaign.

37
Casey Hibbard, “Social Storytelling Boosts Donations for Ronald McDonald House Charities”
www.socialmediaexaminer.com, April 27, 2011.
38
Michelle, “Facebook Offers Geolocation App to McDonalds” www.merinews.com, May 08, 2010.
39
Check in refers to pinging about an individual’s location to his / her friends.
40
Amy Sung, “Lessons in Facebook” www.qsrmagazine.com, December 2012.

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 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

By April 2012, McDonald’s had crossed the 20 million fan-mark on Facebook. Analysts said that
for McDonald’s, the online marketing strategies had played an important role in the company
gaining a huge fan-base. As of March 2013, the McDonald’s US page had around 27 million
fans.41 It was noticed that McDonald’s had not put in all its efforts to respond to the large number
of comments it received on Facebook. Moreover, most of its comments were sheer product
promotions. Despite this, it attracted customers.
In order to widen its social reach, the Facebook page of McDonald’s integrated a non-English
application for the Hispanic population. Thus, by breaking the language barriers, McDonald’s
increased its contacts.

OTHER SOCIAL SITES

ST
P
McDonald’s marketing and advertisements. McDonald’s joined Pinterest with the aim of reachingO
McDonald’s was active on other social sites too. In the US, Pinterest42 had emerged as the third
most-popular social network by 2012. Pinterest was recognized as a potential platform for

new audiences as well as to bring old customers to a new platform. 43 As of June 2013, McDonald’s
had 2,500 followers, 17 boards, and 439 pins on Pinterest.

R
With a strong presence in a wide variety of media and social media, McDonald’s ventured into
Pinterest to “share fun & unique content, as well as the heritage of our brand, in a visually

attractive pictures it posted online. These were shared on Pinterest too.

O
appealing way.” McDonald’s had always been strong in the visual medium, and was known for the

The Pinterest page of McDonald’s featured McDonald’s restaurants from around the world, global

P Y
menu items, various pins of Big Mac, different Happy Meal toys, quotes by Ray Kroc, different
McDonald’s characters like Ronald McDonald, Birdie, Grimace, Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese,
Officer Big Mac, McNugget Buddies, etc., McDonald’s in Olympics, and RMHC, among others.
McDonald’s also invited other users to pin their own food related images on the FoodThanks

C O
board. It was connected to the Twitter account and every pin was tweeted. McDonald’s ensured
that all the followers of its boards were followed. It was also open to comments and suggestions.
McDonald’s was one of the most popular brands on Instagram44 with more than 700,000 pictures
posted under #McDonald’s. Wion said, “In fact, Instagram-styled pictures, more than any others,

T
are the most engaging images.”45 McDonald’s used Instagram during the 2012 London Olympics,
when it communicated several messages through pictures regarding its Olympics partnership,
onsite activities in London, and its menu. McDonald’s also shared the photos of its restaurants in
Olympics Park.

O
In March 2013, McDonald’s came up with a campaign on Instagram. In order to promote the

N
relaunch of Big Mac, customers were encouraged to click pictures of their favorite meals and
upload them on Instagram. Besides sharing the photos, people could even browse a gallery of

41

O
David Moth, “How McDonald's Uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+”
http://econsultancy.com, March 13, 2013.

D
42

43
Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo-sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based
image collections such as events, interests, and hobbies. Pin refers to a bookmark, which users can add to
anything interesting he / she found on the web. All the pins are organized on a topic or theme called
boards. One can follow the boards of others.
Samantha Hosenkamp, “McDonald's Sparks Engagement Online with Instagram” www.prdaily.com,
August 09, 2012.
44
Instagram is an image sharing service. In 2012 Facebook acquired it for US$ 1 billion.
45
Samantha Hosenkamp, “McDonald's Sparks Engagement Online with Instagram” www.prdaily.com,
August 09, 2012.

9
 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

photos. McDonald’s described the Instagram campaign to be successful. Moreover, the company’s
team was still searching for new ideas to connect better with fans.46
For its first mobile advertising campaign ‘Who’s got the mighty wings?’ McDonald’s ran ads on
different sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. This was preceded by a TV
campaign starring Super Bowl stars Joe Flacco and Colin Kaepernick, who competed for the
chicken wings of McDonald’s. The advertisement ended with a blackout, after which the mighty
wings went missing, and prompted the consumers to find out who had the mighty wings. A series
of ads were created encouraging fans to solve the mystery and they appeared on Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and the website of the National Football League. The mobile ad led
the users to seven suspects — the mascot, Groundskeeper, Reporter, Cheerleader, Super Fan, and
the two players. There were constant updates about the suspects and what they were doing while
the mighty wings vanished and the fans were challenged to find out “who took the mighty wings”.
ST
O
This effort became highly popular with several mentions on the social media websites.
In 2013, McDonald’s joined Vine, a social video app by Twitter. This allowed users to create

P
looping videos of six seconds duration that can be shared on Twitter and Facebook. The first video
featured a tic-tac-toe game with French Fries and Fish McBites. This was released to promote Fish
McBites. The video found many takers and it was highly successful. McDonald’s followed it up
with several other clips.

R
In 2014, McDonald’s joined Snapchat, a photo messaging app, which allowed the users to click

O
pictures, caption them, and send them to a limited number of users. Rick Won said, “We are
excited to use Snapchat as a way to share the fun side of our brand with this highly engaged
audience of millennial.”47 McDonald’s joined the bandwagon with a picture of basketball star
LeBron James.

THE OTHER SIDE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

P Y
McDonald’s benefitted immensely from the social media as it was able to engage with customers

C O
in a cost effective manner. Such an advertising and marketing platform helped it gain thousands of
fans and instant responses, and to keep tabs on the pulse of customers. Social media, being an
instant marketing channel, always needed constant monitoring. Wion said, “Monitoring social
media is an absolute essential for any company to understand what people are saying about your
brand and your industry.”48

T
At the same time, being so unpredictable, the social media brought with it spontaneous negative
reactions. Social media had been undeniably a positive marketing tool but it taught McDonald’s
some harsh lessons.

O
In 2011, on Twitter, a hoax photograph was posted which alleged that McDonald’s had charged an

N
additional service fee from African-Americans. This was shared widely across the social media
and spread across the world in no time. The social media team was quick to respond. It replied
personally to each concerned tweeter. This ensured that McDonald’s was able to soon bring the

O
situation under control.
In January 2012, the #McDStories campaign played havoc with the company. The intention behind

D
McDonald’s campaign #mcdstories was to highlight the hard working people providing the
ingredients to McDonald’s. The campaign was expected to bring positive reviews from fans and
followers on Twitter. However, it backfired. Within an hour of its launch, the campaign turned
negative and users filed stories of food poisoning, drug use, and deteriorating condition of the
eateries. To give an example of the comments: “One time I walked into McDonalds and I could

46
“Top 3 Restaurants Doing it Right on Social Media” www.iordercloud.com, September 04, 2013.
47
“McDonald’s joins Snapchat,” www.mashable.com, February 24, 2014.
48
Rick Wion, “4 Insights from McDonald’s Director of Social Media” http://pivotcon.com/mcdonalds/

10
 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

smell Type 2 diabetes floating in the air and I threw up. #McDStories” and “ate a McFish and
vomited 1 hour later….The last time I got McDonalds was seriously 18 years ago in college…..
#McDStories”.49 The hashtag turned into a pile of negative tweets. It also asked many questions
which remained unanswered like “#McDStories Take a McDonalds fry, let it sit for 6 months. It
will not deteriorate or spoil like a normal potato. It will remain how it was.”50 Ultimately, for many
animal activists and dissatisfied customers of McDonald’s, the #McDStories became a way to
share their grievances and hatred. 51
Within two hours, the campaign was pulled out. Wion said, “As Twitter continues to evolve its
platform and engagement opportunities, we’re learning from our experiences.”52 In few minutes,
the expected public relations success turned into a public relations failure. McDonald’s, however,
claimed that the negative responses were only 2 percent of the total tweets received that day. It
said out of a total 72,788 mentions, some 1,456 (2%) triggered the bad waves against the
company.53 ST
negative publicity against McDonald’s and thus, @Anti_McDonalds and @AntiMcDonalds were O
By September 2013, it became apparent that some protesters were using social media to create

P
created. The protesters opined, “McDonald’s represents the face of corporate greed. It is an
imperialistic, monopolistic, corporation that kills millions each year via cancers & heart attacks.”54

R
In spite of the hitches that it encountered, McDonald’s remained one of the most socially engaged
companies. As per Unmetric, 55 the company scored 86 and 97 respectively for being the best

of 118% on Twitter.
O
company on Facebook and Twitter.56 In terms of growth, McDonald’s recorded the fastest growth

Though it experienced both positive and negative publicity through its social accounts, it was

P Y
clearly visible that McDonald’s had been extremely active on social sites. (Refer to Exhibit II for
McDonald’s ranking) Moreover, social media advertising had been always one of the cheapest
ways to advertise, helping the company keep a control over its expenses. 57
Sam Fiorella, Partner at Sensei Marketing, 2012, said, “A successful business cannot lay in fear of

C O
risk but embrace the rewards it can achieve. Brand negativity by those few you speak about will
occur even if your business never logs into a social network. In fact, there’s a greater risk since
that negativity will be the only content feeding social proof around your brand. Social media does
embolden haters but it also provides a new soapbox for great experiences. If anything, social
media has increased the importance of building positive customer experiences online and off.”58

T
O
49
Kashmir Hill, “#McDStories: When a Hashtag Becomes a Bashtag” www.forbes.com, January 24, 2012.
50
Graeme McMillan, "#fail: Hashtag Revolts Show Marketing Doesn’t Work on Social Media”

N
http://techland.time.com, January 26, 2012.
51
Christina Cheddar Berk, “#McFail? McDonald's Twitter Campaign gets Hijacked”
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com, January 27, 2012.
52

O
Kashmir Hill, “#McDStories: When a Hashtag Becomes a Bashtag” www.forbes.com, January 14, 2012.
53
Erik Sherman, “How McDonald's Twitter Campaign Fell into the Fire” www.cbsnews.com, January 27, 2012.
54
Douglas A. McIntyre, “Can Wage Protesters Use Social Media against Big Retail? @ChangeWalmart”

D
55
http://247wallst.com, September 09, 2013.
Unmetric is a social benchmarking company, which helps marketer to compare their social media efforts
against its competitors. It measures any company through an Unmetric Score which is a scientific blend
of 24 qualitative and quantitative social media metrics, weighted and balanced to produce a single
benchmarkable number.
56
Sheila Shayon, “Study: How McDonald's Masters Engagement on Social Media”
www.brandchannel.com, July 18, 2012.
57
“The Pros and Cons of Facebook Marketing” www.pigeonsocial.com, June 6, 2013.
58
Juliet Barbara, “Is Social Media Bad for Business?” www.forbes.com, November 11, 2012.

11
 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

Exhibit I
Growth of McDonald’s
1950s
1954 Ray Kroc became the franchising agent of McDonald’s. Kroc’s vision was to expand
the fast food chain into every American state and internationally as well. He wanted
McDonald’s fast food restaurants to serve quality food by adhering to standards and
specifications
1955 Kroc started a new franchising company under the name McDonald’s System, Inc. and
in the same year opened his own McDonald’s drive-in at Des Plaines, Illinois.
McDonald’s franchising agreement was that anyone who wished to become a
franchisee would initially pay a sum of thousand dollars. Later on, 1.9 percent of the
ST
1956
PO
annual profits of the restaurant were to be paid. Kroc would then pass 0.5 percent of the
takings to the McDonald brothers, keeping the other 1.4 percent with him.
By the end of this year, there were fourteen McDonald’s restaurants that served nearly
50 million hamburgers. The company reported annual sales of US$1.2 million.
1960s
1960
R
Kroc was running the whole show by this time. He renamed the company ‘McDonald's

O
Corporation.’ He wanted to set up a McDonald’s restaurant in every state of America.
He personally looked after the operations, measured every product, and tasted burgers
in every outlet to ensure that the quality of food served was uniform in every

Y
McDonald’s restaurant. In the same year, McDonald’s started its advertising campaign
‘Look for the Golden Arches’ which gave sales a big boost. The McDonald brothers

P
were happy with the results and were not concerned about the company Kroc had
formed. In 1960, there were 228 McDonald’s restaurants that reported US$37.6 million
in sales, and sold 400 million hamburgers.
1961

C O
Ray Kroc began letting out more franchises. The revenues that the company received
from the franchisees made it easier for him to raise capital in the financial markets. He
utilized some of the money to create an advertising campaign with the theme, ‘Look for
the Golden Arches’. The company’s logo was changed from ‘Speedee’ to the letter ‘M’
symbolizing the Golden Arches. Kroc was not happy with the restrictive agreement he

T
had been operating under and wanted to operate the franchising business on his own. So
he offered to buy out McDonald’s for US$ 2.7 million. He obtained a loan and took

O
over the business from the McDonald brothers. The same year, he opened a Hamburger
University in the basement of a restaurant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. It was a
training facility where new franchisees and store managers were taught how to manage

1963
N
a McDonald’s restaurant using sophisticated training techniques and through high-level
management courses.
McDonald’s sold one million hamburgers per day in the US. In the same year, the

1965 O company introduced Ronald McDonald, a red-haired clown, to appeal to children.

On July 5, McDonald’s was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and sold its shares

D1968
for US$ 22.50 each.
McDonald’s well known product Big Mac59 was created. Fred Turner became the
company’s president and chief administrative officer while Kroc became the chairman and
remained CEO until 1973. McDonald’s opened its 1000th restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Contd…

59
The Big Mac is a hamburger consisting of two 1.6 oz (45.4 g) beef patties, iceberg lettuce, American
cheese, pickles, onion and special McDonald's Mac sauce served on a three part sesame seed bun.

12
 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

Contd…
1970s
1970 By 1970, McDonald’s reported US$587 million in sales from almost 1,600 restaurants
in all 50 states of the US.
1973 McDonald’s introduced its first breakfast fast food item ‘The Egg McMuffin’60.
1975 McDonald’s opened its first drive-thru restaurant in Oklahoma City.
1979
1980s
1980
McDonald’s Happy Meal61 was created and was popular with children as well as adults.

By 1980, McDonald’s reported sales of US$ 6.2 billion from its 6,263 restaurants in 27
ST
1982
countries and surpassed the 35 billion hamburger milestone. During the 1980s
McDonald’s diversified its menu to suit the changing tastes of consumers.
McDonald’s received The American Marketing Association Achievement Award for
excellence in marketing programs.
PO
R
1983 Chicken McNuggets were introduced. By the end of the year, McDonald’s had become
the second largest retailer of chicken based products in the world.

O
1984 On January 14, Kroc died. That same year, McDonald’s broke the US$ 10 billion sales
barrier and served its 50 billionth hamburger.
1986 McDonald’s opened its ten thousandth restaurant.
1988

1990s
makes best’.

P Y
Fortune Magazine listed McDonald’s hamburgers among ‘the 100 products America

1990

1996
C
Americans of the 20th Century’. O
By 1990, McDonald’s sales had grown to US$ 18.7 billion with 11,800 restaurants in
54 countries. In 1990, Life Magazine named Kroc as one of the ‘100 Most Important

The fast food chain reached the 20,000-restaurant mark.

T
1997 By the end of the year, the total number of McDonald’s restaurants reached the 23,000th
mark.

O
1999 McDonald’s acquired its first stake in a Colorado-based fast food chain, Chipotle
Mexican Grill by buying a minor share in the company. In 1999, McDonald’s 25,000th
unit opened.
2000s
2000 N
In May, McDonald’s bought the bankrupt Boston Market chain62 for $173.5 million in

O cash and debt, the largest acquisition till date. In the 2000s, McDonald’s introduced
low-calorie menu items and switched to healthy cooking ways like use of low fat oil.

D2002

60
In October, McDonald’s introduced its famous Dollar menu.

The Egg McMuffin is the signature breakfast sandwich sold by McDonald's in various sizes and
Contd…

configurations.
61
Happy Meal is a combo meal with a toy, specially tailored for children by McDonald’s. The meal
includes a burger or Chicken McNuggets, French fries, a drink, and a toy.
62
At the time of acquisition, there were more than 850 Boston Market outlets, which specialized in home-
styled meals like rotisserie chicken.

13
 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

Contd…
2003 In September, McDonald’s launched its advertising campaign on MTV with the tag
line, ‘I’m lovin’ it’. This was McDonald’s first global campaign to be advertised in
more than 100 countries. This campaign was successful as store sales for the year 2003
increased by 2.4 percent after falling 2.1 percent in 2002.
2006 Grilled & Crispy Snack Wraps were introduced in the U.S
2009 McCafe coffees, including lattes, cappuccinos, and mochas, were added to the menu.
2010 McCafe Real Fruit Smoothies and Frappes were added to the menu.
Compiled from various sources
ST
Exhibit II

McDonald’s Total Revenues (2007-2012) ($ in Millions) PO

R
O
P Y
C O
T
Source: www.mcdonalds.com (Annual report 2012)

O
N
O
D
14
 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

References and Suggested Readings:

1. “Lovin' Customer Service via Twitter” http://socialmediatoday.com, October 28, 2013.

2. Angela Haggerty, “McDonald's Launches Online Game and Social Media Campaign to
Mark Launch of a New Product and Return of an Old One” www.thedrum.com,
October 18, 2013.
3. “Pros and Cons of Using Social Media” www.ftadviser.com, October 2013.
4.

5.
“McDonald's Narrative Runs across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube
#MightyWings Effort is a First for the Brand” www.adweek.com, September 20, 2013.
“McDonald’s USA Kicks off Football Season with Launch of New Mighty Wings”
ST
O
http://news.mcdonalds.com, September 16, 2013.
6. Douglas A. McIntyre, “Can Wage Protesters Use Social Media against Big Retail?

7.
@ChangeWalmart” http://247wallst.com, September 09, 2013.

P
“Top 3 Restaurants Doing It Right On Social Media” www.iordercloud.com, September

R
04, 2013.
8. Ellis Booker, “McDonald’s Moves to Franchise-Level Analytics to Elevate

O
Performance” http://data-informed.com, August 29, 2013.
9. Lauren Johnson, “Powered by Kargo: McDonald’s Instagram Campaign Selected as
Top 10 of 2013” www.kargo.com, August 09, 2013.
10.

11.
P Y
Brian Pittman, “Pinterest PR Tips: McDonald's Social Media Manager Shares Five
Steps to Pinning Success” www.bulldogreporter.com, June 12, 2013.
“The Pros and Cons of Facebook Marketing” www.pigeonsocial.com, June 6, 2013.
12.

13.

C O
Joshua Sophy, “Google+ Less Popular with Brands than Facebook, Report Claims”
http://smallbiztrends.com, May 19, 2013.
Mark Brandau, “Social Media Guru Rick Wion Discusses his Approach at
McDonald's” http://nrn.com, April 15, 2013.
14.

T
Maureen Morrison, “McDonald's has a Millennial Problem” http://adage.com, March 25,
2013.
15.

O
David Moth, “How McDonald's uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+”
http://econsultancy.com, March 13, 2013.
16.

17. N
Haydn Shaughnessy, “How McDonald's Toppled Starbucks from the Social Top Spot”
www.forbes.com, February 21, 2013.
Anton Troianovski, “The Web-Deprived Study at McDonald's” http://online.wsj.com,

18.
O
January 28, 2013.
“The Winners of PR Daily’s 2012 Digital and Social Media Awards” www.prdaily.com,

D
19.
20.
January 25, 2013.
Amy Sung, “Lessons in Facebook” www.qsrmagazine.com, December 2012.
Juliet Barbara, “Is Social Media Bad for Business?” www.forbes.com, November 11,
2012.
21. Hammad Siddiqui, “Social Media can Screw Your Brand – Learn from McDonald’s
Social Media Failure” http://careerguru.co, September 18, 2012.

15
 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

22. Maureen Morrison, “Can the McRib Save Christmas?” http://adage.com, September 17,
2012.
23. Tamsin Oxford, “Drive Corporate Change with Social Media Data”
http://usefulsocialmedia.com, September 14, 2012.
24. Giselle Abramovich, “Top Brands are Lonely on Google Plus” http://digiday.com,
August 01, 2012.
25. Sheila Shayon, “Study: How McDonald's Masters Engagement on Social Media”

26.
27.
www.brandchannel.com, July 18, 2012.
“McDonald’s gets Social Media” www.davidajacobs.com, June 21, 2012.
Heather Taylor, “McDonald's: How to Rock and Roll in Rough Social Waters”
ST
28.

29.
http://econsultancy.com, June 07, 2012.
Carol Tice, “Why McDonald's Mobile Games may Lead to another Social Media
McFail” www.forbes.com, May 30, 2012.

PO
Matt Wilson, “McDonald's Exec: 'You don't Control' Social Media” www.prdaily.com,

30.
May 22, 2012.

R
Keith O’Brien, “How McDonald’s Came Back Bigger than Ever” www.nytimes.com,

31.
May 04, 2012.

O
“I’m Tweetin’ It! a Look at McDonald’s Twitter Strategy” http://contently.com, April
06, 2012.
32.

33.
www.mckinsey.com, April 2012.

P Y
Roxane Divol, David Edelman, and Hugo Sarrazin, “Demystifying Social Media”

Christina Cheddar Berk, “#McFail? McDonald's Twitter Campaign gets Hijacked”

O
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com, January 27, 2012.
34. Erik Sherman, “How McDonald's Twitter Campaign Fell into the Fire”

35.
C
www.cbsnews.com, January 27, 2012.
Graeme McMillan, "#fail: Hashtag Revolts Show Marketing Doesn’t Work on Social

T
Media”
36. http://techland.time.com, January 26, 2012.
37.

O
Kashmir Hill, “#McDStories: When a Hashtag Becomes a Bashtag” www.forbes.com,
January 24, 2012.
38.

39.
N
“McDonald's #McDStories Twitter Campaign Backfires” www.telegraph.co.uk, January
24, 2012.
Kashmir Hill, “#McDStories: When a Hashtag Becomes a Bashtag” www.forbes.com,

40. O
January 14, 2012.
“How Kraft, McDonald's, Sears are Doing Social Media Right”

D
41.

42.
www.chicagobusiness.com, January 02, 2012.
John Souza, “6 Tips Used by McDonald's to Keep their Fans Engaged”
http://socialmediamarketinguniversity.com, November 18, 2011.
Casey Hibbard, “Social Storytelling Boosts Donations for Ronald McDonald House
Charities” www.socialmediaexaminer.com, April 27, 2011.
43. Ron Ruggless, “How McDonald's Uses Social Media to Connect” http://nrn.com,
October 16, 2010.

16
 McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers

44. Michelle, “Facebook Offers Geolocation App to McDonalds” www.merinews.com, May

08, 2010.
45. Michael Castellon, "Facebook Set to Launch Geolocation Status Updates; McDonald’s
First to Cash in” www.geoapplab.com, May 06, 2010.
46. Emily Bryson, “McDonald's Names First Social-Media Chief”
www.chicagobusiness.com, April 13, 2010.
47. Karen Goldberg Goff, “McMoms Answer Fast-Food Critics”

48.
www.washingtontimes.com, November 04, 2009.
Claire Cain Miller, “New Starbucks Ads Seek to Recruit Online Fans”
www.nytimes.com, May 18, 2009.
ST
49.

50.
51.
Emily Bryson York, “Take Cover! Marketing Blitz for McCafe is on the Way”
http://adage.com, May 01, 2009.
Annual Reports, McDonald’s
www.mcdonalds.com PO
52.
53.
www.facebook.com/McDonalds
https://twitter.com/McDonalds R
54.
55.
www.facebook.com
https://vine.co/McDonalds O
56.
57.
www.pinterest.com/mcdonalds
http://instagram.com/mcdonalds#

P Y
C O
T
O
N
O
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17