Summary

McDonald’s was facing a problem - their Gen Z clients are indifferent to the brand. Not dislike, not distrust, not hate… worse, they just didn’t care. They engaged my team as part of the Kellogg Marketing Consulting Lab to identify ways to refresh their brand perception and drive engagement on their app. To diagnose the problem and identify potential solutions I:

• Conducted expert interviews across multiple fields (Gen Z demographics, quick service restaurants, loyalty, gaming) to understand the complex dynamics of customer choice within the saturated QSR market.

• Led program of customer research, including interviews and surveys of 700+ customers, to complete perception map across McDonald’s many customer journeys and modalities.

• Identified recommendations spanning emotional and logistical drivers that address customer friction points at each ‘life stage’ of McDonald’s customer engagement, as supported by voices of customers captured through research.

Insight - Partnerships

My research into partnerships unearthed 6 key attributes of a culturally relevant partnership. An unexpected finding for both myself and McDonald’s was that weirdness was critical to generate active emotional engagement for customers - a fantastic example being Martha Stewart x Snoop Dog.

McDonald’s gave glowing feedback, and our recommendations have been circulated to senior leadership for sizing & prioritisation.