« Financial Services Naming At Fault for the Recession? | Main | Taking a Naming Break to Walk for the Animals »

May 5, 2009

McDonald's McCafé Brand Namé Adds New Chapter In Big Brand Naming

Today a new chapter in branding and naming comes to life.

McDonald's will "drop the mother of all campaigns on you... that will be not so much viral as bubonic." We're talking about a $100 million cross platform campaign to tout their new McCafé coffee brand and send Starbucks into branding history. This McBlitz will be their biggest push since their introduction of breakfast items in the 70s.

The Los Angeles Times, for the most part, welcomes this "old school" marketing tactic, but notes that the product name might be a slight problem: "McCafé is hard to say -- having three stressed syllables -- and American audiences have almost no experience with diacritical marks, so the acute accent mark on the final é is going to leave some fast-fooders bewildered."

McDonald's is attempting to remedy this naming concern by using a series of commercials to familarize us with what "é" sounds like. A McCafé product will turn a regular commute into a "commuté" and will make a better day "possiblé." In addition, an office cubicle with the right McCafé mocha can become a "cubiclé."

Get it? If not, radio spots are also being aired that will teach you "How to Speak McCafé."

McDonald's is also going to heavily utilize YouTube as well as other nifty branding outlets including the traditional, old school TV, print and outdoor ads.

Starbucks, on the other hand, is planning on lowering prices on select beverages, as will Dunkin' Donuts, which already is associated with good, cheap coffee. It's almost like boarding up the windows before a McHurricané.

It appears McDonald's has decided to go after Starbucks while they are feeling the pinch of a contracting economy. McDonald's is about to prove, in my opinion, that it can essentially be whatever it wants if it has a cheap, decent product (they always seem to) and a good brand name to go with it.

However, Starbucks assures us that they will not lose many customers, but I doubt it. I love my morning Starbucks, but it's tough to remain loyal when there is a competitive product available for less.

For almost a decade now, Starbucks has been a case study in below the line promotion and the power of WOM geared towards select groups. They built a brand on authenticity and the perfect embrace of a trend. It was the triumph of the brand over advertising.

But in one, huge body blow, McDonald's is attempting to wipe that out and show us what is really "possiblé" when you want to build a new brand "namé" in tough times.

Technorati Tags: McDonald's Brand, McCafé, Starbucks Marketing, McDonald's Marketing, Product Naming

Posted by William Lozito at May 5, 2009 8:02 AM
Posted to Beverages | Brand Naming | Branding | Industry | Marketing | Naming | Product Naming

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.namedevelopment.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4413