Fast-food chain McDonald’s recently launched a new product to woo anime fans in India. It’s store in Mumbai’s Bandra was painted in anime characters, made by fans.

In the anime universe, fans have created ‘WcDonald’s’, an alternative for the food company. The campaign was executed by its creative partner, DDB Mudra.

At the launch of the product, we caught up with Arvind RP, Chief Marketing Officer, West and South, McDonald’s to learn more about the thought behind the launch. He also spoke on the recent ‘fake cheese’ issue.

Talking about the launch of the new product - Savory Chili WcDonald’s Sauce - and feeding into the pop culture, Arvind RP said, “Anime fandom is very big in India, across various categories like apparel, food, makeup, gaming, and OTT content. It's a big passion point for youngsters. McDonald's exists already in the anime universe, the fans of the brand have created a parallel universe of McDonald's within anime. They have created all of these designs, it's fan-made, fan-created content.”

“We were totally inspired by that. We said now we have to bring this alive. It's a global campaign. The US launched it a few weeks back. This (Bandra) store that you see here is one of the few stores outside the US that's been transformed completely with the whole anime experience.”

In February, the fast-food chain had a bit of trouble after claims over the authenticity of its cheese accompaniments. The Maharashtra Food & Drug Administration (FDA) expressed apprehensions about an outlet using a cheese alternative in McDonald's burgers instead of real cheese. Consequently, the license of the outlet in Ahmednagar was suspended. According to FDA, the establishment was utilizing 'cheese-like' substances or cheese analogues, rather than genuine cheese. Nevertheless, following the submission of a compliance report by the chain, which confirmed the elimination of the term 'cheese' from the names of products, their license was reinstated.

On March 6, 2024, McDonald's received a clean chit from FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India). The regulator body has confirmed that the company uses 100% real cheese. Throughout the issue, the company and the stakeholders including RP were active on social media talking about the genuineness of the products. Talking about coming out of the crisis and the strategy, Arvind said transparency, confidence and speed helped them to maintain their brand position.

“McDonald's has been in India for 27 years. It's the same McDonald's experience across the globe. It's a question about being transparent. So, the philosophy that we approached was that we have to be completely transparent to the consumer. The facts are on our side. We are totally compliant with the FSSA food norms. We just have to put the facts out there. While we engage with the authorities, we don't want consumers to think anything else but the facts.”

“In this age of social media, speed is so much more important. The impatience of consumers. And how consumers make up their minds so fast. In one night, you can move the clock. In addition to transparency, and being confident about your messaging, I think speed is what was needed,” he added.

After Covid, there is a lot of shift in the minds of consumers when it comes to food. People are inclined towards healthy eating and diets like vegan and gluten-free. McDonald’s being a fast-food chain is adapting to these shifts, Arvind said. “Consumer needs are evolving. For us, the task is to be ahead of the trend. About seven years back, we launched a whole wheat bun. We reduced the sodium content in our fries and introduced fruit juices, and corn to our consumers. Recognizing diversity in food choices, we have a Jain meal, no onion, no garlic menu. McDonald's is a democratic brand and we are trying to make it relevant for everyone.”

He further told e4m that the brand’s app has become a major contributor to their overall revenue. “When you look at the data, one sees that the frequency of an app consumer is 2x of a non-app consumer. The app consumer is very frequent in terms of purchases, discovering new offers, spending more at McDonald's.” Arvind also spoke about feeding consumers from India and Bharat. He said that in small towns, drive-thru has worked out well.

Asked about media spending, he said that the digital share has grown drastically in the last few years. Around 50% of their media budget is allocated to digital mediums, the rest is a mix of TV and other media assets, Arvind shared. “About more than 50% of our consumer-facing spends are on digital. That has grown significantly over the past three or four years. Traditional media has a significant role. TV viewing habits are ingrained. It's a mix of TV plus digital.”

Speaking about newer marketing initiatives, Arvind said that they were growing their experiential marketing bit, and there is a lot in in the works when it comes to AI. “Gen AI is the future and a lot of pilots are happening to understand it better.”

Lastly, talking about the future, he said, “We rolled out our Vision 2027 recently. You will see a lot of growth levers across chicken, burger, and McCafe. Our 2027 agenda talks about 600 stores in India. We opened about more than 35 stores in the last financial year. We are focusing a lot on tier 2 cities in the South, opening more ‘drive-thrus’. We are very aggressive in terms of opening new stores in newer geographies.”