Annoying McDonald's Coffee Commercials Seem to Work

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It looks like McDonald’s is gaining some ground on Starbucks in the quick-service coffee war, according to one survey. Respondents who chose McDonald’s as their go-to place increased from 4.9 percent in February to 5.4 percent in May, according to Worthington, Ohio-based BIGResearch’s just released quarterly Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey.

During the same period, Starbucks lost ground, sliding from 9.6 percent of those polled to 9.2 percent. Dunkin’ Donuts took a hit in the crossfire, dropping from five percent to 4.1 percent.

The survey also found that McDonald’s coffee drinkers on average are older than Starbucks customers (47.7 years old versus 39.2), poorer (an annual income at $55,572 versus $67,487) and confident/very confident in the economy (33.7 percent versus 30.3 percent).

McDonald’s rise comes on the heels of a major advertising push for the “upscale” McCafé concept it’s deploying against Starbucks. You know, the ads that cloyingingly add a French-accented “é” at the end of words like “cubicle” and “commute.”

They’re everywhere, even endangering a fabulous NBA playoff season by popping up every 10 minutes or so during game breaks. McDonald’s seems to believe that consumers really are simple-minded enough to robotically reach for a “McCafé” just because it’s got an insipid earworm of a jingle.

Sadly, the company might be right. According to the BIGResearch survey, which the research firm carried out independently, McDonald’s $100 million bet on the hideous campaign appears to be working. God forbid it becomes part of our lexicon.

Now excuse me while I go catch the Lakers and Kobé.

Update: Over at BNET Food, my colleague Katherine Glover notes that McDonald’s coffee might not lag that far behind Starbucks’ offerings in quality.

Tags: Starbucks Corp., McDonald's Corp., Marketing Research, Marketing, Ian Ritter

Ian Ritter is the national online editor of commercial real estate news site GlobeSt.com and author of its Counter Culture retail blog.

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susanwwh

06/02/09 | Report as spam

RE: Annoying McDonald's Coffee Commercials Seem to Work

In Hong Kong, Most of the Mc Cafe is not good for us to stay a long time since it's so crowd and smaller. Not adequate space for enjoying a cup of coffee and gossip with friend... Therefore, I usually choose to stay in Starbuck when I wanna to drink a cup of green tea latte....Mc Cafe isn't provided for me.
2

79goldie

06/02/09 | Report as spam

RE: Annoying McDonald's Coffee Commercials Seem to Work

As much as I love to watch this war and root for McDonalds, I still haven't purchased a cup of Mccafe at McDonalds. I have gone there plenty of times since my local McDonalds was remodeled to include the new set up for it's coffee sure... but every time I make a special trip just to eat at McDonalds my goal is just that "to eat", and not to have a cup of coffee. I only order my usual quarter pounder value meal. And even though I am glad McDonalds is going up against Starbucks, guess what? -I have bought a coffee at Starbucks many times while I do my shopping at Target and the grocery store where the satellites of Starbucks are conviently located right inside. I guess if a McDonalds was inside my grocery store I would buy a cup of McCafe. For me it is a matter of impulse drinking. And I would never make a special trip to a Starbucks for coffee either, since I work at home and brew my own daily. I do not care how much my coffee costs- so I am purely driven by convienence, and quality of taste, of course. But I am not typical, however this is an interesting point for McDonalds if they want to get the market share from stay at home parents, and people that work from home who only go out to run errands during the day.