McDonald’s cooks up minimal. No logo.
McDonalds recently opened two of their latest Tokyo outlets. To say that it surgically has removed their corporate voice — well its really closer to a lobotomy. Wow.
above: They have done away with the golden arches, Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar, Happy Meals, and McMuffins in this McDonalds. They have even done away with a (the) logo. The only thing they retained is the color red.
above: The only products served are the QP (Quarter Pounder) and the QPC (Quarter Pounder with Cheese) simply in red, white, and black packaging. The fries come with the burger as a menu set, no option here.
above: the interior is very lounge-like. one can imagine what the background music is — country ?
Quarter Pounder may look low key, but there is the viral online marketing to the hired hands handing out flyers to passersby. The “Quarter Pounder Big Secret” campaign.
We see the “no logo” look for bars and clubs and fewer restaurants. The “mystique” of a somewhere making all of its patrons feel a bit exclusive and in-the-know. If it looks like a club and sounds like a club. Its a club. The stores are next to H&M, etc.
What it will do for the QPC? More than a singular design theme to one product. McD´s is attempting to make an iconic product out of the QPC by wagering an entire restaurant investment on it. Feedback and crowds say good.
This is case study material for the brand police. Let’s keep an eye on how it does. Could you put up one of these in your town?
via watashi to tokyo — meta tame — neil duckett
14 comments ↓
Wait until the Japanese start getting fat and face an epidemic of diabetes.
Remember that McDonald’s was first restaurant to scientifically design their chairs to be a bit small and uncomfortable to boost turnover. Wonder what these seats look like. Maybe like NYC’s spanking new subway cars from the ’80s. Japanese-built, the seats were too small for the American butt. They had to be retro-fitted. Some things just miss in translation.
I wonder how many different drink options there are. This would never work in this US. Americans love choices.
While there are certain parts of this campaign I really like (the posters and the store interior design), there are other parts that I think American audiences would be confused by. The store exterior, for one, seems to me to be as easily a Burger King as it is McDonalds. Branding through a product is something that McDonalds has actually done well in the past (the Big Mac, Happy Meals etc.) I wonder if this doesn’t take it one step too far.
As for the packaging, just don’t care for it. Something about the font bothers me (a little too condensed, maybe?). If the packaging had gone the way of the poster advertising, I think it would be a bolder, more eye-catching strategy.
Question: Who sold this idea to ronald and how did they make it sound like an idea worth following through on?
If you can’t biggie-size it, it would never fly in America..
..but if you gave away teenie-beanies with every meal.. now there’s an idea.
I don’t think having a lounge-like interior to the restaurant would make a difference in America. We’re “on-the-go.” To me, fast food is simply that. You’re in and out, and I definatly wouldn’t want to sit and eat my fast food in a dark room listening to country. As for getting rid of the golden arches, I didn’t like them anyway so that’s a plus. I don’t think the packaging design does anything for the product. It’s boring.
I personally think the McDonald’s arch had some creative uses that were not entirely utilized within America. I’m happy about the barren packaging but it does go slightly beyond chic and into obscure. Without the picture of the burger on the exterior, I don’t think many Americans would equate this with fast food, especially McDonalds.
Left a note for Neil Duckett to see how things are going. My guess from his blog alone ;-( btw – looking at photos of the interior one wonders how large is this space? If it is anything like a hotel room in Tokyo it is very intimate. If you compare Starbuck’s venues size does matter: bigger floorplans seems to encourage a larger critical mass. Is it about the product or something else?
Neil says the logoless branding effort is dead. It appears as a guerilla test to get buzz in local hot spots. He’d follow up in detail when back in the area and if there is a story to tell.
Till we know why it failed ( if it even failed ) we can come to our own conclusions. Anyway, Neil is on a McD roll with this post…hotdog!
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