Coalition of Franchisee Associations

May 23, 2016

McDonald’s 'Unheard of' Demands For Agencies

McDonald’s 'Unheard of' Demands Stir Ad Industry Debate - Adweek:
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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a McDonald's Franchisee I have mixed view on that on the surface it seems good but who is going to do work for free (what type of product you going to get) and if it is based on just sales / TC growth discounting is the easiest answer for short term results no long term strategies this way they will get paid. An advertising campaign should drive profitable sales to the restaurants just not sales and TC growth their is no incentive for any ad agency to do that or on the surface it seems that way.

This Deborah Wahl comes from a retail environment basically "just move product" her accountability should be tied to franchisee / restaurant profits. Just like a ad agency I am not into serving customers for free and I am sure they don't want to do work for free.

Richard Adams said...

Even with all the Mc-hype about making McDonald's "modern and progressive" management's best idea was to kick off 2016 with McPick for $2.00, basically a return to 2002's Dollar Menu. When deep discounting is all Oak Brook can think about the agency is not the problem.

Richard Adams said...

Or said another way, it appears that Oak Brook is telling the agencies, "find new and different ways for the Operators to deep discount".

Anonymous said...

WAHL is a disaster and needs to be FIRED

Anonymous said...

The issue is Co-Ops do not stand up to her and the soldiers she, Oakbrook & OPNAD send out to the field, hold your Co-OP reps responsible for endorsing OPNAD programs.

Richard Adams said...

The only power McDonald's marketing people possess comes from the money McDonald's Operators voluntary contribute to OPNAD. Without that flow of free money none of them would have their jobs.

I like to restart this argument about once a year. McDonald's Operators have no room to complain about OPNAD as long as they continue to voluntarily fund OPNAD.

Now will come numerous E-mails and postings to this website claiming that McDonald's Operators must belong to OPNAD for this or that reason. No, they don't. McDonald's Operators must adhere to their franchise agreements, they must pay their rent, they must pay their bank loans. They do not have to join voluntary advertising programs.

Yes, an individual Operator not belonging to OPNAD will be punished. Large numbers of Operators dropping out of OPNAD would eventually wipe out the credability of everyone in McDonald's upper management. Without OPNAD the CEO would have no power. People like Wahl would not be able to make monumental decisions for McDonald's Operators.

The fist beneficiaries of McDonald's advertising power - shareholders - assume the billions spent on brand McDonald's is uninterruptible and set in legal stone. If investors were to learn that it's not, all hell could break loose.

Anonymous said...

Defunding Opnad is unlikely to ever happen, but co-ops that continue to vote in bad programs can only blame themselves. Opnad reps are pressured to pass programs at opnad to be sent out to the field for votes, instead of killing bad programs in committees or at the opnad meeting. Once out in the field, gms exert pressure on operators to support opnad. Gms and marketing teams are also pressured to get the vote and are often chastised for questioning the programs, even in an effort to make them better.

Why all this pressure to pass a vote? The oak brook teams rarely have a plan b. A crappy program is better than any alternative they can't conceive of.

Coops and owners always think the next coop or owner will vote it down, but it rarely happens.

Garbage in, garbage out.

Anonymous said...

Don't interrupt the stream of funding, challenge your reps, agencies and Wahl to develop better programs.

Anonymous said...

Best way to challenge them is to stop sending them all that money. Keep it at home and spend it wisely.