Executive Summary

Goal

The goal of the McDonalds Canada SMS Marketing Text Messaging pilot project is to create a membership program where customers receive new offers roughly 4-8 times per month and to increase sales.

To generate interest of new customers in McDonalds Canada food products and to take away market share from its competitors, such as Tim Horton’s and Subway of Canada.

To offer repeat customers of McDonalds Canada a loyalty program in order to recognize the fact that the economic growth will be slow to the end of 2015. The second issue is to inform repeat and new customers that McDonalds recognize that money is tight and they want value for the food products they purchase and that it should be healthy and nutritious.

Objectives

To help the client increase foot traffic and purchases in their retail location by providing a new state of the art marketing concept this is SMS text messaging!

By implementing an external marketing campaign using text messaging, McDonalds Canada can take away market share from its competitors.

To create a loyalty base of customer to generate more repeat business per retail outlet, and to acquire new customers over time.

Our vision is to provide McDonalds Canada with leading edge technology to stay ahead of its competitors in the short and long term period.

 Results

The uses of table tops were not as effective as we thought they were. Customers were experiencing advertising blindness.

Timing is very important. The SMS blast must be set at the right time of day to give customers ample time to decide if they want to participate in the specials, promotions and offers from the restaurant. Responses to promotions by customers may be affected by the season of the year and daily weather conditions at the time of purchase.

Sending SMS text message blast twice a week has led to an increase of sign up and a reduction of opt outs. Each of the SMS text message blast contained a promotion and a call to action.

After brainstorming with Ron Reaves, we realize by physically providing the customer a coupon with an in store offer, with a greeter showing them how to use their smartphone to text or scan the QR code to get on a list, they felt more comfortable in receiving promotions and specials.

Over time as we implemented the positive changes in the SMS text messaging marketing campaign we experienced less opt-out

Customers responded well to the new coupons and there were fewer complaints as table tops were eliminated. The McFurry campaign from May 1-6, 2013 promo generated a 21-29% response rate by members redeeming the SMS text message blast.

Exact Text Message Campaign

(50% OFF ANY regular size  ‘McFlurry! See in-store for details. Exp 05/06/13 @2am.Valid only at 25 Carrier McDonald’s. Show Cashier.)

In the last two weeks starting from May 16-27, 2013 the SMS text messaging system was used with the McWrap promotion which was a national marketing strategy by McDonalds of Canada.

By piggy backing SMS text messaging with the McDonalds Canada national advertising campaign we noticed an increase in redemptions of our campaign.

(Buy a New Signature McWrap Combo and get a second McWrap for FREE!Exp 5/27/13 @2am. Not valid with any other offers.Valid @ 25 Carrier Dr.)

Overall all the McDonald’s store in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) area grew by 1-3% while McDonalds Restaurants at 2800 Skymark and 25 Carrier Drive grew by 10% for May 2013.

A  McDonalds in Canada generates an average of $3.2 million/year. This means that each store generates $8800/day or $270,000/month (30,000-55,000 transactions). Ron’s market for the month of May 2013 had a 9% increase.

The six week test in Ron’s market resulted in a base of 1200 customer (600 per location).

Conclusion

Recommended Strategy for The SMS Text Marketing Project for McDonald’s Canada

• In order to fully test the viability of the SMS Text Message system a larger test area is needed.

• McDonalds of Canada is interested in moving forward with this project due to the competition using new technology to connect to customers.

• The number one complaint by customers exposed to SMS Text Messaging is why the other McDonalds are not doing this program.

• A group of McDonald’s restaurants in a region is required to fully test the SMS text message marketing system.

• A numbers of Cities are now under consideration such as London, Hamilton and Burlington.

Need for Region Wide Marketing Campaign

• There is a need for a substantial marketing campaign for this project. McDonalds must decide what capacity its Marketing team will participate in this project.

• In addition to the in store marketing advertising that must be done for each of the McDonalds retail establishments. (Apparel, Paperwork, Equipment, Disposables and Set Pieces)

• The marketing campaign is a selected city must include:
• Taxi Cabs
• Busses
• Bus stops
• Billboards
• Mobile Trailers
• Special events
• Newspaper with QR code.

Duration of SMS Text Messaging Project

• McDonalds is interested in reviewing a project proposal to test the SMS messaging system in a region with at least 10 stores.

• The duration of the project will be at least 3 months and Page Marketing staff must be there full time to track the data and marketing efforts at each store.

• Page Marketing will be onsite at the test store on a daily basis for the duration of the project.

• Page Marketing request the authority from McDonalds Canada Head Office to verify that the marketing campaign is implemented properly.

• Page Marketing requires each store in the test market area to have a promotion code to track redemptions from customers.

• Page marketing request a weekly or monthly meeting schedule with McDonald’s marketing team to review the campaign and discuss possible changes and or improvements.

• Page Marketing would like to discuss with McDonalds Canada Head Office a timetable to draft and present a Mid-Term and or Final Report to Senior Management.