McDonald's Picks IMarketing Advantage, Planman Marcom For Its Digital Duties

Online, October 27, 2010 (Newswire.com) - In a bid to tap consumers online and make itself more accessible, McDonald's India has zeroed in on iMarketing Advantage and Planman Marcom to handle its digital duties. The win comes in the wake of a multi-agency pitch, which also saw the Participation of Techriti Software and iStrat in the final stages for the business.

Speaking to exchange4media, Rajesh Kumar Maini, General Manager, Corporate Communications, McDonald's India, said, "We really liked the whole approach of iMarketing Advantage and Planman Marcom. They showed us possibilities of ideas that we had in our mind. We wanted them to educate us technically and show us depth of their knowledge and we saw that they could comprehend the project well. All the agencies were good, but we wanted to go for the best."

The company has plans to revamp www.mcdonalds.net, its website for the North-Eastern region.

On the brand's strategy in the digital space, Maini divulged, "We were constantly getting requests from our consumers for our digital presence. We mapped these responses and figured out the strategy. We want a website that has every possible information on and around the brand. Be it for the McDonald's joint in Noida or any other place, we want to put specifications and services offered at that particular outlet."

When asked if the brand was looking to get into e-commerce, Maini promptly replied, "Yes. We will be beginning with the work in another 45-60 days and put the new website for testing thereon. Eventually, we will launch the web ordering system by the second half of January next year."

He further said that the new website would sport a new look and feel with exciting yet simple user interface for users.Contrary to existing trend of launching a new website with integrated social networking tools, McDonald's India has kept its social media plans on hold. Maini remarked, "Unless the web is optimized for us, we would not enter that space for the heck of it. We are looking at the kind of team requirement for this particular aspect of online space as we would want a dedicated lot for it. Right now, it is very nice for us there."

While some of the other FMCG brands like Pizza Hut are evidently active in the social media and have even called for a social media pitch in the past, McDonald's is very clear on taking control of social media content and forming a specialized team for it.

"We are hesitant to give social media to a third party, and if at all we do, they should understand the brand in and out," he concluded.