McDonald’s Commitment to Families
2010
The Marketing Store
Shared family moments. Just like we, as parents, recognize the importance of these special family moments, so does McDonald’s and their Happy Meal partners at The Marketing Store in Chicago. The people who make McDonald’s Happy Meals - the ones who are instrumental from idea to execution – know that Happy Meals are a passion project.
McDonald’s, from its inception, has been committed to QS&V (Quality, Service and Value) and even when it comes to marketing to children, McDonald’s continues to operate under the same mantra. Even back in the 1950s, ads for McDonald’s were not just about the food, they marketed things like napkins and straws with spill-proof lids. These kinds of things made McDonald’s different, and made McDonald’s “total value that was unmatched anywhere.”
Now, yes, I realize that there are those who are okay with marketing to children and there are those who are NOT okay with it, and this debate has been going on as long as advertising was around and it will continue to be debated and argued as long as advertising continues to exist. No matter what you believe, I probably won’t be able to sway to the other side. I can only tell you what I see and what I know. Advertising to children exists. It’s my job as a parent to make decisions on behalf my children’s best interests and to help my children learn to make their own informed decisions.
What was interesting for me to learn, however, is that when it comes to marketing to kids, there are rules McDonald’s follows. For example, for each 30-second TV spot, 15 seconds are toy focused, i.e., showing the child interacting with the Happy Meal toy and 15 seconds are active lifestyle focused. In advertising to children, you will only see McDonald’s highlighting their better food choices – milk, Chicken McNuggets, and apple slices. You won’t ever see them marketing their fries and their cheeseburgers to kids.
McDonald’s Canada, you will soon see (if you haven’t already), is proud to be able to now highlight another better food choice on their Happy Meal menu – the Grilled Chicken Snack Wrap! By reducing the sodium in grilled chicken products across the board the Snack Wrap is now considered a healthier food option.
Because McDonald’s is the world’s largest toy distributor, they take great pride in creating toys that are both fun and safe. They take huge steps to research what parents and kids like, using focus groups and trend tracking and observational research and post-program analysis. They want to make sure they are making toys that children will actually want to play with.
We were able to follow McDonald’s newest toys – the line for Shrek: Forever After – from the brainstorming room, which was covered floor-to-ceiling in ideas and sketches and props, to the computer animators who use Photoshop and 2D images to color and shade and make the Shrek characters come to life. We got to meet the animator who uses a free form mechanical arm to manipulate 3D versions of the characters (we got to try it too!) and who can PRINT in 3D (Impressive! Who knew you could do that?!?!). We, again, got to see the measures McDonald’s goes to ensure toy safety, including finger entrapment tests, bite tests and compression tests.
There will always be advertising and there will always be toys. But I, as a parent, can appreciate the lengths McDonald’s and their suppliers go to ensure that I do, in fact, have choices to make and offer great, fun, and safe toys to my children to play with.
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks is a great partner for McDonald’s.
McDonald’s is a great partner for DreamWorks.
While in Los Angeles, we were able to get a (rarely-given) behind-the-scenes tour of the DreamWorks Animation Studio. If you didn’t already know, Shrek: Forever After is now playing in theatres and Shrek: Forever After is now appearing in McDonalds Happy Meals. Because we were able to see the entire Shrek process – from the original ideas up until the toys are in the hands of happy children worldwide - it was such a treat to be able to see how the actual Shrek movie came to be. During our tour, we were schooled in a little Shrek 101. We got to see all of the steps that go into making an animated movie…and there are so many. A story is first pitched and picked and then sketched and storyboarded, which, essentially, is a hand-sketched blueprint for the entire movie. It was hilarious to see some early sketches of what this green ogre could have possibly looked like before he came to be the Shrek that we now know and love. Temporary scratch recordings are done before the actual voices are recorded. Interestingly, sometimes the scratch voices work so well that they are kept in the final cut. For example, Walt Dohrn, who is actually Head of Story at DreamWorks, did such a fabulous job voicing Rumpelstiltskin for Shrek: Forever After that he ended up doing the voice in the actual movie. And we got to meet him too!
There are so many people making these movies – the editors, the writers, the animators, the set directors, the lighting people, the sound people, the production people, the post-production people. Everybody has a role, and every role is crucial. And while we were there, we got to see how it all comes together with a special private screening of Shrek: Forever After. Even though there was no popcorn, I really enjoyed the experience. The Shrek movies are some of the few that all three of my kids enjoy, so one of them is usually playing in our van. And this new one did not disappoint. It was clever, it was funny, and it was touching (and I may or may not have even teared up a one point). I couldn’t wait until the movie came out in the theatres so I could take the kids!
The people at DreamWorks Animation firmly believe that their products are only as good as the people who make them. And, it’s clear from the lovely atmosphere at the studio and the ping pong championships and the koi ponds and the free meals that they want to keep their employees happy. And they must be happy because DreamWorks has always, and still continues, to produce quality films that, like its partner McDonald’s, create wonderful shared family moments. One thing is clear, and has been clear through this entire McMoms process: McDonalds chooses its partnerships very carefully, and DreamWorks is no exception. Whether it’s a food supplier or an animation studio, you can rest assured that it will be a quality provider.
