McDonald's International Media Days 2008: Review

The McChronicles was offered a tremendous opportunity to experience McDonald's International Media Days 2008. What a better way to bring interesting information to the "customers" who are the very heart of our mission: "Chronicling the McDonald's Brand Experience From The Customers' Point Of View." We seized the chance and did our best to both experience the event and share it all with you in seven separate postings (one, two, three, four, five,...

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McDonald's International Media Days 2008 (Day 3, Part 2)

This posting will wrap up The McChronicles experience at McDonald's International Media Days 2008. It was an incredibly rich 3 days of information, accessibility to people, and insight. Here is how it concluded.After we departed McDonald's advertising agency, DDB, where we learned of the two latest corporate initiatives, we headed to the McDonald's 50th Anniversary Restaurant located at 600 N. Clark St., in Chicago. It is a pretty special restaurant...

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McDonald's International Media Days 2008 (Day 3, Part 1)

This morning The McChronicles was at the offices of DDB, one of McDonald's advertising agencies, for two very special announcements - and for a very special surprise.McDonald's Chief Marketing Officer, Mary Dillon, introduced these items this morning:a McDonald's tie-in to the Upcoming Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa movie, complete with a new slogannew global McDonald's packaging - with an emphasis on the productMADAGASCAR: Escape 2 AfricaBeyond the...

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McDonald's International Media Days 2008 (Day 2, Part 3)

Day 2 of McDonald's International Media Days was FULL of interesting information and insights. In the afternoon The McChronicles was able to meet with Chef Dan Coudreaut, Corporate Chef, USA, in his test kitchen. Dan was accompanied by several vendor partners who (along with several other vendors) share in the development, testing, and inventiveness. Chef Dan stressed that creating new McDonald's menu items is a team effort. Some of the vendors were...

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McRib Update: A SPECIAL REPORT from The McChronicles While At McDonald's International Media Days 2008

The McChronicles receives numerous requests for information related to The McRib. People ask:Where is the McRib?Why is it back?Where did it go?Why does it come and go?What the ...?and, occasionally, "There IS a McRib?"The McChronicles promised to seek the answers - and for this risky assignment we went straight to the top. Today The McChronicles held a face-to-face discussion with McDonald's Debra McDaniel, the Senior Director of U.S. Menu Management...

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McDonald's International Media Days 2008 (Day 2, Part 2)

Next up on Day 2 of McDonald's International Media Days 2008 was Senior Director, U.S. Restaurant Design, Max Carmona who outlined the company's Green Building Strategy. And, if you think this is just about the building, you will be surprised.But, speaking of buildings ... did you know?:there are 14,000 McDonald's restaurants in the U.S.there are 31,000 McDonald's restaurants in the world.the concept of a "Green Restaurant" has been under development...

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McDonald's International Media Days 2008 (Day 2, Part 1)

The McChronicles enjoyed an excellent Day 2 of McDonald's International Media Days 2008.This morning started out with a presentation on McDonald's Strategic Beverage Initiative. Speaking was Mr. Lee Renz, Vice President of U.S. National Beverage Strategy (top image). Mr.Lenz stated that it is McDonald's goal to become, "a beverage destination". In addition to the company's carbonated and bottled beverages, and the shakes, coffees, etc., McDonald's...

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McDonald's International Media Days 2008 (Day 1, Part 2)

The second part of our first day of McDonald's International Media Days (see part of McDonald's International Media Days 2008) was much less formal and a lot more hands-on. And since it was getting to be about that time, The McChronicles is talking about hands on LUNCH!Today's lunch was served in McDonald's ultra-top secret "Innovation Center". Seriously, this place has such limited access that many of ther McDonald's staff that accompanied The McChronicles...

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McDonald's International Media Days 2008 (Day 1, Part 1)

The McChronicles is currently participating in McDonald's International Media Days. This event (the 4th of it's kind in recent times) is being held in various cities near McDonald's global HQ (near Chicago, Illinois, USA).While some participants are focused on corporate financials, and while McDonald's is focusing in a variety of messages this week, The McChronicles is here for one purpose: "Chronicling the McDonald's Brand Experience From The Customers'...

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Double Cheeseburger Issue (part 3)

The McChronicles enjoyed yesterday's double cheeseburger so much that ... well ... you know.Today The McChronicles and a friend stopped back in for more. And, we got to thinking. We wondered about the differences between what we were "sold" and what we actually received.So, we ordered two sandwiches (Big Mac, double cheeseburger), snapped their pictures (as received), then went online to see what McDonald's are telling us they SHOULD look like (sold).We're...

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Double Cheeseburger Issue (part 2)

Fans of The McChronicles will recall vividly how The McChronicles discussed the "goings-on" related to the double cheeseburger. Here is more info.Background:McDonald's is reportedly experimenting with either removing the double cheeseburger from the dollar menu or cheapening it up by removing cheese, or discontinuing it. Prices (for some version of the above) are said to be ranging from $1.00 to $1.09 to $1.19.Today:Being in a "need to know" mode,...

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Double Cheeseburger Issue (part 1)

According to a comment posted at Netflix's MOVIE FANS site, and pointed to by a McChronicles commentor:"you have to ask for a dbl hamburger with cheese to get the one for $1! If you ask for a dbl cheeseburger they charge you $1.19..."Well, according to an article on consumerist.com:"In an interview, Don Thompson, president of McDonald's U.S. business, said the company has tested ways to make the burger less expensive to make. Some restaurants are...

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A Consistently Excellent McDonald's

Kudos to the Johnstown, NY McDonald's. It seems that every time the McChronicles drops by, things are in great shape.LOCATION: Johnstown, NY (Route 30A, Pyramid Mall)STORE #: 4858ORDER: Quarter Pounder w/o cheese, bottled waterPreviously they received accolades for their awesome presentation. Today they are going to receive praise for their cleanliness. The first impression, upon driving up to the store on a fine fall afternoon, was that the exterior...

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McChronicles Word Cloud

Wordle offers a cool tool that enables a person to create a word cloud based on a blog. So, The McChronicles went to work. Here is what we look like in a word cloud.The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: Screen grab from word...

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