Y’know, it’s really amazing: we live in a world with more entertainment options than humanity has ever enjoyed. We’re surrounded by hundreds of endless yet unique television stations, big-screen epic spectaculars, amazing 3-D and online video gaming, the bottomless pit that is the Internet, and even the wonders of virtual reality. We have easy access to all of this, the kind of stuff our parents and grandparents never dreamed of.
And yet, we still get excited when the Monopoly game comes to McDonald’s.
You know what I’m talking about: every so often, the world’s favorite hamburger joint runs out their Monopoly contest promotion, where you collect those little game pieces representing the spaces on the famous Monopoly board game. If you collect an entire Monopoly set (like Park Place and Boardwalk, or all four Railroads), you win a big prize. And this year, McDonald’s raised the stakes even higher by partnering with electronics purveyor Best Buy to offer potentially big discounts for everything from CDs to GameCubes.
Maybe it’s because we love retro, maybe it’s because we all grew up with Monopoly, or maybe it’s just the cuteness of those tiny little pieces… whatever it is, the Monopoly game always translates into big sales for McDonald’s. A lot of people thought that they’d seen the end of Monopoly a couple of years ago when it was revealed that the contests had been totally rigged since the very beginning. As it turned out, the marketing firm that coordinated the contests for McDonald’s had been quietly ensuring that all of the top prizes went to their staff’s friends and family. It was a huge blow to the credibility of Mickey Dee’s, and we all assumed that it would be the end of Monopoly/McDonald’s partnership.
Not so, however. With a steadily declining percentage of market share (due to increasing competition for the fast-food dollar and concerns about the relative healthiness of a Big Mac), McDonald’s went back to the old tried-and-true contest formula. They tried it earlier this year with “Winning Time,” a self-branded sweepstakes that didn’t exactly light the world on fire. When that didn’t work, they went back to their old partner, Monopoly. Business Experts were worried that it would never work: would consumers ever trust a Monopoly contest again? And while we’re at it, does anybody really care about some obscure board game that’s almost seventy years old? McDonald’s has trouble attracting the young 15-to-25-years-old market… will a promotion this dated really work, the Experts asked?
And the answers to those questions were yes, yes, and you bet, of course. In the month of October, as the Monopoly game began, McDonald’s had its biggest sales increase in five years. Why the big success? Ask the Big Shots of the Golden Arches about this, and they’ll be quick to point out their brand new “I’m lovin’ it” advertising campaign, their meal-sized salads, and their Madame Alexander Happy Meal toys. Oh, and if you catch them on a good day, they might mention the Monopoly contest.
There are many reasons for McDonald’s success, but not all of them are tied to any competitive advantage. One factor had to be the recovering economy, which helped all restaurants; Wendy’s, for instance, had more business in October than the company had experienced in months. And while McDonald’s new ad campaign may have helped their sales, it typically takes more time than just a week or two to see huge results from a new marketing strategy like the “I’m lovin’ it” approach. Sales in the month of November will show how well that message is bringing in the teens and twenty-somethings. The meal-sized salads (which are surprisingly tasty) have been around for several months already, so that’s probably not a huge factor in October’s success, and the Madame Alexander Happy Meal dolls… well, there’s a market there, but it’s definitely a niche.
Which leaves Monopoly standing alone as the major cause of McDonald’s recent success. It makes sense: we love Monopoly. Mickey Dee’s might not want to call too much attention to it because it shows that their own brand, alone, can’t reach the level of success that it can by partnering with other brands like Best Buy and Monopoly. This might be seen as a sign of weakness at McDonald’s, that the core brand isn’t as powerful as it should be. But despite the business politics of the situation, Monopoly is a hit. We don’t know why we love it; we just do. In early October, I went to a McDonald’s restaurant with a large group of friends, among them keynote speaker and trainer Darmeny Jones. We entered the restaurant, noticed the Monopoly game was back, and we both immediately proclaimed at almost the same time, “I want everybody’s Monopoly pieces!” A brief argument ensued, which resulted in the two of us sitting at opposite ends of the table and quietly snatching pieces from our amused friends.
I think he got the better end of the deal: he got a free breakfast sandwich. All I got was St. Charles Place and Marvin Gardens. But who cares; it was fun!
So what can we learn from the success of the Monopoly game? Here are a few five-dollar tips:
The American public is very forgiving.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been defrauding us for over a decade with these contests, and it doesn’t matter that a lot of the people connected to it went to jail. We have a short memory, and we don’t hold grudges. We love Monopoly, warts and all, and we’ll reward McDonald’s for taking a risk and bringing it back. The American consumer has a very high capacity for forgiveness, so long as you provide us with something we value.
Even in the brand-crazy twenty-first century, partnerships can be huge.
McDonald’s dislikes partnering with anybody as a general rule, because any partnership might weaken their own brand (which is one of the most valuable in the world). Corporations, led by the big dogs like Nike and Disney, are paranoid about maintaining the power and strength of their brands. With this contest promotion, McDonald’s partnered with not one, but two other brands: Monopoly and Best Buy. And yet it still worked. Why? Because both brands are strong with the target market that McDonald’s wants to attract. Regular Best Buy shoppers (like me) were drawn to the world of Big Macs and Quarter Pounders by the promise of discounts and free food. And let’s be honest: we all like free food.
Don’t overestimate the power of your own brand.
And connected to that, let’s learn from the success of Monopoly, as compared to the relative failure of the forgotten “Winning Time” promotion (which was basically just like Monopoly, only without the Monopoly name and the Best Buy prizes). Customers just aren’t excited about a generic McDonald’s contest. We think of them as powerful purveyors of burgers and fries… not exciting games. When we want a great game, we think B & O Railroad.
And finally,
Retro is still in.
You want to appeal to teens and twenty-somethings? Don’t give us more of the same commercials we’ve seen for years, and don’t gush at us with images of happy families, telling us that you love to see us smile. Give us something that actually appeals specifically to us… like consumer electronics and the power of nostalgia. Nostalgia, in particular, is one of the biggest draws out there as of now; we love Donkey Kong, there’ll always be a warm spot in our hearts for Cheers, and for some reason, we’re strangely attracted to Monopoly. Retro is in, and there are a lot of great classic properties out there that are just waiting to be exploited.
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