McDonald’s has cracked the strategy game

By maintaining a level of ‘stillness’ around its strategy, McDonald’s has been able to crack the strategy game and set itself apart from its rivals.

What do they mean by stillness?

Well according to Hannah Pain, McDonald’s Head of Marketing, stillness in this instance means keeping the strategy ‘firm and true’ even if tactics change. 

In this regard, McDonald’s places a huge emphasis on doing things that it knows will resonate with customers and drive growth. To this end the brand recognises the importance of market orientation and consumer insights, which enables it to play to its strengths. Which ensures that they are constantly wanting to know what’s happening with their customers and how they as a company can play to that. 

As a result of this, the company can take huge risks such as in their recent  ‘Raise Your Arches’ campaign which did not feature a single burger.

The end result? A return on investment that is 1.5 times higher in the near term than any other type of work that the company might consider doing.