McDonalds: None of Us is as Good as All of Us

Lauren Damone Melissa Yakim

Diversity is not a destination you reach, it is a journey you take. The real benefits come from a constant effort to do things better tomorrow than you do them today. --McDonalds CEO Jim Skinner

One of the three people responsible for McDonalds worldwide revitalization plan launched in 2003 that focused on customer strategies, business disciplines and close global alignment Three Priorities: 1. long-term sustainable growth for the company 2. talent management and leadership development 3. promoting balanced active lifestyles Served in the Navy and then was president of McDonalds Europe from 1997, then Executive Vice President and International Relationship Partner for Central Europe, Middle East, Africa, and India from 1995 to 1997.

Kevin Newell Chief Brand Officer

Oversees all aspects of global brand management for McDonalds, including Marketing, Menu Innovation, and Insights, as well as provides strategic input in the areas of Corporate Social Responsibility and Restaurant Architecture.

Situational Analysis
History/ Background Info

McDonalds is the largest chain of fast food restaurants 64 million customers daily in 119 countries Corporations revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by individual franchises in addition to sales in company-operated restaurants Primarily sells burgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks and shakes but the menu periodically expands due to demand First store was opened in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in California McDonalds employs more than 1.6 million people world wide In 2007, McDonalds was ranked one of the Top 20 Global Companies for Leaders by Fortune magazine Proudly has the largest number of minority and women franchise owners in the quick-service industry

Mission Statement McDonald's brand mission is to "be our customers' favorite place and way to eat." Our worldwide operations have been aligned around a global strategy called the Plan to Win centering on the five basics of an exceptional customer experience People, Products, Place, Price and Promotion. We are committed to improving our operations and enhancing our customers' experience. None of us is as good as all of us -Ray Kroc The more people we include in the process of satisfying our customers, the more successful we will be. Its a perfect definition of the benefits of diversity- none of us is as good as all of us together.

McDonalds Challenge:
As McDonalds continues to expand globally, it continues its mission of diversity as it moves to areas such as Asia & Latin America. However, these areas have a less diverse customer base. As McDonalds continues to move beyond US boarders, the mission becomes learning how other cultures define diversity. Pat Harris, when asked where she would like to see her department in 15 years she said she hopes has ceased to exist. Her goal is that inclusion becomes automatic in all aspects of the company Harris would McDonalds diversity and inclusion program to move beyond the obvious areas of race and gender and include those issues such as religion, which the company has not formally explored yet. Source: McDonalds -- Writing the Book on Diversity http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/content/mcd/student s/serving_our_communities/writing_the_book_on_dive rsity.html

African Americans, women, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, people with disabilities, and gay/lesbian employees have been an integral part to McDonalds success *Using 3 Components: 1. Strong commitment from senior leadership 2. Training & Education 3. Networks for employees, owners/operators, and suppliers -McDonalds understands that people with different backgrounds have different ways of looking at the world their ideas are needed to be a successful company/ brand

Pat Harris Chief Diversity Officer

McDonalds encourages diversity to meet the countrys ever-changing demographics By making diversity a major part of their company, they are able to better understand the different groups that make up our country Companys commitment to diversity & inclusion sits on a three-legged stool 1. Employees 2. Owners/Operators 3. Suppliers *Customers fall under the arches of the stool Employee diversity is about understanding and celebrating the fact that more than one point of view can help a company grow. It's about the bottom line. Diversity makes creativity. Creativity helps companies solve difficult problems and grow.

Q&A with Pat Harris

1. A companys diversity does not evolve overnight; how can companies use this to their advantage? a. A company should look to unique core values of its own that can be used as foundational building blocks to develop diversity- fundamental qualities like fairness, honest, integrity and opportunity 2. Many companies have not yet embraced diversity as part of their business strategy, explain why this puts them at a competitive disadvantage. a. Companies who have not learned to manage diversity within their own workforce are finding they have a disadvantage in competing and this is a gap that will only become wider in the future. Its important to recognize how society is changing and adapt your organization to accommodate the new realities. 3. Why is training and education a vital step in the production of a diverse organization? a. Recruiting minorities is the easy part, but educating them in how a corporate culture works and how to succeed within this structure is important in making them productive and happy members of your team. We found it was essential to train our existing people in how to manage a diverse workforce and educate them about changing attitudes and behaviors in the new, diverse world we were dealing with. Its a simple matter of giving people the tools and resources they need to be successful.

SWOT ANALYSIS
S Strong brand name, image and reputation. Large market share. Strong global presence. Specialized training for managers known as the Hamburger University. McDonalds Plan to Win focuses on people,products, place, price and promotion. Strong financial performance and position Introduction of new products. Customer focus (centric). Strong performance in the global marketplace W Unhealthy food image. High Staff Turnover including top management. Customer losses due to fierce competition. Legal actions related to health issues; use of trans fat & beef oil. Uses HCFC-22 to make polystyrene that is contributing to ozone depletion. Ignoring breakfast from the menu. O Growing health trends among consumers. Globalization, expansion in other countries(especially in China & India). Diversification and acquisition of other quickservice restaurants. Growth of the fast-food industry. Worldwide deregulation. Low cost menu that willattract the customers. Freebies and discounts. T Health professionals and consumer activists accuse McDonald's of contributing to the countrys health issue of high cholesterol, heart attacks, diabetes, and obesity. The relationship between corporate level McDonald's and its franchise dealers. McDonalds competitors threatened market share of the company both internationally and domestically.

Reaching for DiversityBehind the Counter

McDonalds prides itself on being a corporation that not only welcomes diverse customers but diverse employees as well. McDonalds believes that to successfully be a diverse corporation externally with customers, it must first begin internally with the staff.

African Americans, women, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, people with disabilities, and gay/lesbian employees have been an integral part to McDonalds success *Using 3 Components: 1. Strong commitment from senior leadership 2. Training & Education 3. Networks for employees, owners/operators, and suppliers Promoting Inclusion: Provide access to employee networks in which voluntary members act as a resource and advocate for the employees they represent 1. Global Womens Leadership Network 2. National Hispanic Network 3. McDonalds African-American Council

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Celebrating Diversity: Supplier Diversity Under the Arches

Presentation delivered by McDonalds that recognizes the minority and female enterprise owners who are part of the supply chain for McDonalds. Goal: Purchase goods and services from fully capable, qualified and certified companies that reflect and represent the diverse population McDonalds serves around the world. Mission: Leverage the unique talents, strengths and assets of our diversity in order to deliver the worlds best quick service restaurant experience. In doing so, we promote superior supplier performance through highly qualified minority, women and small businesses that enhance the customer experience. Diversity management model: - McDonalds seeks to do business with existing minority and women-owned businesses. - McDonalds seeks to provide access and opportunities to qualified, world-class suppliers to further drive competitiveness within the supply chain. - Supplier diversity is a proactive business practice that is an integral part of our current and future business success.

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Reaching for DiversityIn Front of the Counter

Its no secret that the goal of a business is to make a profit, and McDonalds restaurants are no exception to this.
McDonalds reaches out to multiple diversity groups through advertisements, tv spots and specialized websites.

Goals Create communication with audiences of multicultural backgrounds. Pat Harris: Inclusion becomes automatic in all aspects of the company both internally and externally. Objectives Knowledge: To have the fast-food clientele know that McDonalds embraces and welcomes diversity in the customer and employee bases. Predisposition: To create an atmosphere that is appealing to all ethnic groups. Behavior: To have members of all ethnic and age groups to choose and retain loyalty to McDonalds when looking for a fast-food restaurant to dine at. Strategies Engage multicultural audience via social media Connect with various consumer segments Maintain cultural relevance to difference audiences simultaneously Retain brand authenticity and brand reputation

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Tactics: Engage customers online via websites created specifically for their age or ethnic group. Create a culture within the corporation where all groups are invited to work for McDonalds. Have celebrity spokespersons of all ethnic groups represented and celebrated on the various websites and television commercials. Each website promotes the current McDonalds specials (i.e. the McRib, Monopoly game) Messages: Diversity marketing is a company-wide strategy. the restaurant chain encourages acceptance, and welcomes customers of any gender, race or sexual orientation to come as they are because they are valued Slogans: Come as you are (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjUReHqbiRM) Im loving it Me Encanta Target Audience: McDonalds puts extensive effort into reaching out to all minority groups through the creation of separate websites. Each of these websites contains their own relevant contests, video clips, celebrity testimonials, etc. Campaign Execution Websites for individual minority sectors

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365 Black
At McDonald's, we believe that African-American culture and achievement should be celebrated 365 days a year not just during Black History Month. That's the idea behind 365Black.com. It's a place where you can learn more about education, employment, career advancement and entrepreneurship opportunities, and meet real people whose lives have been touched by McDonald's. Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund HBCU Classics o McDonalds Halftime Show at Atlanta Football Classic, Circle City Classic, Florida Classic Competitions o McDonalds Flavor Battle- win a trip to Miami o McDonalds Inspiration CelebrationGospel Tour o Essence Music Festival o Artist Spotlight Feedback page Ronald McDonalds House of CharitiesAfrican American Future Achievers Scholarship o Pennsylvania chapter awarded 15 highschool students in Philadelphia scholarships
Lebron James Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48qzZT4Rj24

Agency: DDB Chicago Inc Calvin: Evidence that the effort to reach out to minority communities is not a new one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y92Hv8bjto&feature=related

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Me Encanta
McDonalds connects to their Latino audience through several platforms on the conjoining website Me Encanta Your Music McDonalds Fiesta Tour: traveling music exhibit that is in its fifth year Features Latino artists who have contributed to the advancement of music, culture and education Scholarships Linked to a separate website that contains scholarship information Ronald McDonald House Charities Hispanic scholarship program Futbol Star Challenge Interactive online game Latin Pride Downloadable materials designed to show off your pride

InspirAsian
Celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (which is in MAY!) o Recognizes contributions of Asian Pacific American community in food, technology, entertainment, art areas Local events in community o Family Pavilion Tent o Education workshop My Story spotlight focuses on individuals in the Asian Pacific American community that are role models o Michelle We o Victor Kim (Americas Best Dance Crew) Scholarship Information

Commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oAy5aLTxVg McDonalds Frozen Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie Features- Victor Kim a My Story spotlight and dancer from Americas Best Dance Crew

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For Children & Tweens

McDonalds Happy Meals o Activities, games, art projects and information about happy meals McDonalds for Tweens o An online venue where pre-teens can play games with friends online o Third-party website

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Social Media
Other than the individual websites, McDonalds brand does not have a strong online presence. The twitter account for McDonalds corporation has only 15,000 followers, which for a corporation of their size and coverage is miniscule. The account solely tweets back at people who have tweeted, typically complaints, at them. Its also very difficult to locate individual communications personnels twitter accounts. McDonalds corporation has them available but not very accessible. In order to find the communications contacts, you have to navigate through several media and communications pages. We also noticed that the content and personnel on the page get altered on a weekly basis, so its not very dependable. McDonalds Twitter: @McDonaldsCorp Jessie from McDonalds US Communications sector: @McCafeYourDay *Jessie does a better job of communicating McDonalds promotions and event than the corporate account does. However, their Facebook presence is much more noticeable. They have 11,487,229 likes on their page. Within the facebook page they have links to separate McDonalds entities, like Me Encanta and the McCafe.

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Media Coverage
Campaign- UK News Source http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1008289/french-gaymcdonalds-ad-causes-controversy/ McDonald's has caused controversy in France by releasing its first ever television ad featuring a gay teenager. Screening in France and created by Euro RSCG, the ad invites diners to "come as you are" and features a teenager looking longingly at his school photo and then calling a mystery partner to say he 'misses' them. In the ad's twist, the teenager's father returns from the counter with a tray full of burgers and says, "It's a shame you're in an all boys college. You would have had all the girls chasing you." The sentence is followed by a wry smile from the young teenager, who has obviously not yet told his father he is gay. A YouTube version of the ad has been seeded and one stream has currently recorded nearly 140,000 views. The director of the ad is Xavier Giannoli, who has previously directed spots for Volkswagen Polo. Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly has already caused more controversy after he mocked the ad on air saying "Do you think they have an ad for Al Qaeda?" comparing the McDonald's ad to promotion by the terrorist group. Gay activists have now called for a public apology from O'Reilly. A spokeswoman for McDonalds said that the ad was meant to recognize the diversity of McDonald's customers in France. The media planning and buying for the spot is by OMD Group.Competitors Diversity Campaigns

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McDonalds Honored for Equal Opportunity and Diversity (Quick Service Restaurant Magazine)
McDonalds Corporation and vice chairman and CEO Jim Skinner were selected as the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Laws 12th Annual A. Leon Higginbotham Corporate Leadership Award Honorees for exemplary corporate leadership in advancing equal opportunity and diversity. The gala black-tie dinner, themed We Believe in All of Us, will be held at the New York Marriott Marquis on October 24 with a 6:30 p.m. reception and 7:30 p.m. dinner. CNN Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi will serve as emcee. McDonalds Corporation is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 33,000 local restaurants serving more than 64 million people in 118 countries each day. Around the world, inclusion and diversity at McDonalds means providing equal opportunities for everyone to succeed and contribute. McDonalds accomplishes this in a number of ways, such as the integration of diversity initiatives into their daily business practices, a strong diversity education curriculum, employee business networks, and external partnerships with diverse national organizations. At McDonalds, we celebrate, embrace, and advance diversity as part of our legacy. Were honored to receive the prestigious Higginbotham Award recognizing our work in

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this area, Skinner says. Having a purposeful diversity strategy helps McDonalds meet the needs of our broad base of customers. Were committed to developing an even stronger culture of diversity, and making sure that our global business teams are as diverse as the customers visiting our restaurants. We salute McDonalds and Jim Skinner for their stellar commitment to inclusion and diversity, says Lawyers Committee executive director Barbara Arnwine. We are enormously proud of McDonalds global leadership in embracing and empowering a diverse workforce. More than 60 percent of McDonalds home office and U.S. company workforce are of a racial or ethnic minority, or are women. In addition, approximately 45 percent of McDonalds U.S. franchise owners are women and minorities. McDonalds suppliers are also diverse; 68 percent of the companys annual spend on food, packaging, uniforms, operating supplies, and premiums come from U.S. minority and women-owned businesses. The companys recognition includes: Corporate Responsibility Magazine, 2010 Top 100 Best Corporate Citizens; Black Enterprise Magazine, Top 40 Best Companies for Diversity; and Hispanic Magazine, Top 60 Best Companies for Diversity.

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Multicultural Marketing: Oppurtunity for Growth (DiversityBusiness.com)

In order to better understand multicultural consumers, companies such as McDonalds work to encourage all of its executives and associates to lead with ethnic insights. This commitment to lead with ethnic insights includes learning, understanding and fully appreciating diverse consumers from their point-of-view so the company can serve them in a culturally relevant and appropriate manner, while remaining true to its brands core values. When we talk about understanding our multicultural consumers and the changing landscape of the market, we often turn to our strategic partners such as our restaurant operators and ethnic agencies, says Vivian Chen, manager of Asian Consumer Marketing at McDonalds USA. Our partners work closely with our marketing team to reveal the unique cultural consumer insights that we need to fully understand and address our business needs. They are our arms, eyes and legs in the communities where we operate our restaurants, allowing us to be responsive to our customers each and everyday. Find a champion. Ethnic and multicultural marketing will only become a priority if someone at the top fully supports it. Without that support, ethnic and multicultural marketing wont be viewed as a business priority by other employees within the company or even externally by key community, media and civic influentials. And if it isnt made a priority, ethnic and multicultural marketing may be the first thing to be eliminated in a tough economic climate. The best way to keep ethnic and multicultural marketing top-of-mind is to have an internal champion at the executive level of the corporation support your work.

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Competitors Campaigns

Burger King 2008: Real People, Real Success Burger King launched a print ad campaign highlighting its diversity initiatives nationwide. The campaign features the successes of BKs diverse employees, suppliers and franchises. The agency Republica was the designated agency for diversity inclusion and developed the marketing and communications initiative for Burger King Corporation. Advertisments were put in publications Poder and Hispanic Enterprise. The campaign consisted of a series of real-life testimonials of Hispanic, African American and Asian and was stylized using black-and-white portraits. 2011: Burger King received a lot of criticism from Jesse Jacksons Rainbow PUSH Coalition because of their decision to drop UniWorld Group and LatinWorks, its former African American and Hispanic ad agencies. Burger King defended the decisions by pointing out that new marketing trends suggest that young consumers, one of the corporations target markets, are less likely to use traditional labels of race and ethnicity. Wendys 2007: Launch of Hispanic-aimed instant win game promotion. The integrated promotion was targered to the Hispanic blue collar male. Wendys was the official restaurant of the 2007 Copa America tournament and to leverage their sponsorship they developed an instant win game where three grand prize winners received the opportunity to attend the Copa American tournament final match in Venezuela.

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Evaluation
Going into the project, we didnt expect it would be so difficult to discover and analyze the campaign elements of McDonalds diversity marketing. We quickly realized information about diversity marketing can be difficult to find because one of the goals is that its not noticeable. If done successfully, diversity marketing efforts are subtle and not noticeable. This also explains why you wont find a news release about the topic anywhere on their website or released from them. We hypothesize that the main reason the situational analysis and campaign layout is so hidden is because of how valuable the information would be to competitors. When you look the numbers of employees and daily customers McDonalds restaurant has its obvious that the business plan has the ingredients that work. In addition, McDonalds doesnt work solely with one advertising agency, which made their activities even more difficult to track. DDB Chicago was hired to do their Lebron James commercial, but Leo Burnett was behind a spot aimed for children. Additionally, McDonalds has been reaching out to diverse audiences for two decades now. This campaign is one with an extensive history with no clear start date and certainly no end date in sight. While the evolution of the campaign is noticeable, changes are never drastic. We were surprised that McDonalds effort to reach out to minority groups were not only externally based but reached internally at well. McDonald Restaurant wants not only for minorities to consume their product, but also be a large part of running their company. There is a huge emphasis on the importance of a diverse employee base and the opportunities that working in McDonalds could bring a minority individual.

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As far as external diversity marketing, we focused on McDonalds online Web sites. Branched off of their main website www.Mcdonalds.com, there are several Web sites created solely for minority groups. 365Black, Me Encanta and My InspirAsian are designed to attract members of African American, Hispanic and Asian groups respectively. Some of the websites are better than others though. 365Black and Me Encanta are more involved and relevant than My InspirAsian is. We believe that this is because Asian Americans have the highest education and income level of any minority demographic group in the country, therefor not putting them within the fast food target group. However, having a website for a group solely for the sake of having a website is not an effective strategy. McDonalds lack of effort on My InspirAsian reflects poorly on the corporation. Additionally, the method of several distinct websites that are each their own entity doesnt necessarily embrace each of the cultures, but is segregating.

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Citations
1. Murrill, A. (2007, February 19). McDonald's Strives to Embrace Global Diversity [Web log post]. Retrieved from Kellogg School of Management : http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/news_arti cles/ 2007/patharris.aspx 2. Pat Harris tells how McDonald's does it. (n.d.). Writing the Book on Diversity: Pat Harris [McDonald's Serving the Community]. Retrieved October, 2011, from McDonald's Restaurant website: http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/content/mcd/stu dents/serving_our_communities/ writing_the_book_on_diversity.html 3. An interview with Pat Harris, vice president diversity initiatives with McDonald's Corporation [Interview ]. (n.d.). Retrieved from Employment Guide database. 4. Diversity. (n.d.). Diversity (our company ) [Global Inclusion & Intercultural Management]. Retrieved September, 2011, from McDonald's Corporation website: http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/ our_company/diversity.html 5. McDonald's Honored for Equal Opportunity and Diversity . (2011, October 19). Quick Service Restaurant, industry news. Retrieved from http://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/mcdonaldshonored-equal-opportunity-and-diversity 6. McDonalds (Ed.). (2011, September). Celebrating Our Diversity: Supplier Diversity Under the Arches. Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/etc/medialib/cs r/docs.Par.92110.File.dat/ 123362011%20Supplier%20Diversity_r8.pdf 7. Valle, E. D. (2008, January 10). Burger King launches diversity oriented print marketing campaign [Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations website and podcast]. Retrieved

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November, 2011, from http://www.hispanicmpr.com/2008/01/10/ burger-king-launches-diversity-orientedprint-marketing-campaign/ 8. Insight Into Diversity . (n.d.). Burger King's New Marketing Plan Could be Bad for Diversity . Retrieved from http://www.insightintodiversity.com/component /content/article/51-breaking-news/ 548-burger-kings-new-marketing-plan-could-bebad-for-diversity.html 9. Clemente, D. (2007, May 29). Wendy's Launches Hispanic-Aimed Instant Win Game Promotion [Web log post]. Retrieved from Donna's Promo Talk : http://www.donnaspromotalk.com/donnas_promo_t alk/2007/05/last_week_wendy.html 10. Multicultural e-business solutions. (n.d.). Multicultural Marketing: In a Weak Economy, This may be the Best Opportunity for Growth. [Article]. Retrieved from DiversityBusiness.com website: http://www.diversitybusiness.com/news/diversi ty.magazine/99200830.asp 11. Media Center [Image Gallery]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/media_cente r/image_gallery.html 12. Profile America: Facts for Features. (n.d.). Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. Retrieved from U.S. Census Bureau website: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archi ves/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb11ff06.html

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