I have just finishing reading “Would you like to see how we made our fries with that? Behind McDonalds’S Big Transparency Play” over at Co.Create and thought it was definitely worth sharing.
Here is a synopsis of the article, but the full thing is worth the read:
McDonald’s Canada gambled with a frank question-and-answer-driven social media campaign that has gone on to earn huge publicity and positive reviews. Here, the CMO behind the campaign explains how and why the transparent approach worked.
McDonalds took customers’ questions – some unpleasant- and made videos to give frank answers. See an example below or you can view all of them at the McDonalds YouTube channel:
This video campaign is really interesting on many levels. Firstly by using real McDonalds employees and suppliers, they have created really believable and trustworthy advocates for the brands. Secondly by using video to show the “behind the scenes” footage gives McDonalds the air of transparency and a “nothing to hide” attitude – something that text or brochures simply couldn’t do. Thirdly the interactive nature of the campaign, leveraging social media to both gather the questions and disseminate the answers, is really fun.
However, what I found most interesting is that any business could take elements of this campaign and tailor it to their marketing needs. All you need is a camera, tripod, mic and some simple editing software. Are you in a business where users are confused or intimidated by technical or scientific language / terms / equipment? Perhaps you work in an industry that has garnered bad press for certain practices? Or maybe you simply get asked the same questions over and over again about your business? Having a video on your homepage/Facebook page explaining the problem in a simple, honest and straightforward manner could be the solution to a problem that you have been avoiding.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this!
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