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New York (pte031/24.01.2005/13:00) - Fastfood giant McDonald's http://www.mcdonalds.com is to go regional in its Asian marketing. As the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) http://www.wsj.com reports, the world's largest restaurant chain wants to seek economies of scale while appealing to local tastes of its Asian customers. This month in nine different countries, McDonald's is launching its "Prosperity Burger", which refers to the Lunar New Year celebrated with different holidays across the region. The campaign will bring the burger to all 2,200 restaurants around the region, outside of Japan. The company plans to spend around 4 million dollars on media advertisements.
The regional campaign is part of McDonald's struggle with the question of whether advertising should be local, global or a mixture of both. Companies such as Proctor & Gamble use pan-regional marketing in Asia to sell their products. In September 2003, McDonald's launched its "I'm Lovin' It" campaign, for which it created independent advertising for each country. According to the WSJ, this global approach was designed to unify the messages and to spread advert-production costs across many markets.
In Asia, incomprehensible adverts across vastly different cultures can mean bad business. Even under the "I'm Lovin' It" campaign, local Asian markets have continued to adapt the adverts for the local markets. The inspiration for the "Prosperity Burger" comes from multi-ethnic Malaysia, which includes large populations of Malays, Chinese and Indians.
According to Mark Blears, McDonald's regional brand director for Leo Burnett, the company wanted "to get a more extraordinary singe piece of advertising" for the "Prosperity Burger". "Rather than focusing on a particular celebration, we decided to focus on the consumer. What universal insight might link people that can transcend nationalities and borders?" said Blears. The answer is simple: A wish of good luck for the New Year.
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