A look at McDonald’s Intriguing New Marketing Strategy

McDonald’s has just released its latest commercials, and there’s one thing about them that stands out: they don’t use the company’s name. In fact, they’ve decided to include Coca-Cola and Google instead.

Why did the fast food chain choose this tactic, exactly? It’s expected to target teenagers and young adults, an age group that reportedly prefers recommendations from friends and trying brands out for themselves over being directly advertised to. This is why ad campaigns that promote themselves in an aggressive manner often fail to bring in younger customers.

While these new commercials avoid using the brand’s name, they do include rising star Mindy Kaling to appeal to a more youthful audience. She mentions Coca-Cola and Google while encouraging consumers to find McDonald’s without saying the chain’s name. To make the message clear, she stands in front of a red background dressed in yellow. The fast food business is currently promoting its summer dollar drink deal.

By prompting potential consumers to engage with the brand through digital means like Twitter and Google, the public’s interest level rises and they feel less overwhelmed by advertising. Burger King recently ran their own digitally-based campaign in which talk of the Whopper took over the regular functions of Google Homes everywhere.

Google quickly stopped Burger King’s marketing attempt, but it willingly helped out with that of McDonald’s, collecting data about searches related to the campaign. Additionally, Kaling was well-chosen due to her commitment to the brand, and her self-created show The Mindy Project, which now features clips of her munching on the chain’s food.

Could this kind of advertising tactic be the future of the marketing?