Changing Perspectives

McDonald’s comes face-to-face with nearly three million Canadian consumers every day at more than 1,400 restaurants across Canada. The quick service food retailing giant knows that it’s the consumer that drives sales, and those consumers apparently have a lot of questions.

The company launched Our Food. Your Questions., an online digital platform that has provided answers to over 23,000 questions from consumers since its launch in 2012.  “We have nothing to hide,” said Sherry MacLauchlan, Director Government Relations & Sustainability with McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited, who admits that sometimes the questions can get tough. Where does your food come from? What’s in it? How is it processed? How do you prepare it? Some questions have been challenging, but the company is committed to transparency and answers with openness and honesty.

For farmers, MacLauchlan realizes that direct link with consumers isn’t always obvious but said that the Our Food. Your Questions. model could be re-shaped in different ways to be effective, perhaps through grocers or food service companies at point-of-purchase.  Her advice? “Be brave; be bold,” MacLauchlan told the  audience at the Farm & Food Care 2015 AGM in Milton, Ont.  “Get comfortable being uncomfortable.” When consumers ask questions, you have to tackle them head on to reach your goal of putting people at the core. Take brand action then advertise it, putting the brand in the hands of the consumer, all while maintaining a casual tone.

Many of the questions are about the food chain and farming, and as she told the room, “that story comes from you. We get a halo when we talk about our association with farmers.” Answers are provided in text, video or image format. Taking the time to answer questions isn’t about selling; it’s about changing perspectives. MacLauchlan hears fixed perceptions about their brand, but finds that as soon as you give a little information, people walk away with an enlightened view. “Our task was not to say something new. It was to say what we had been saying for years, but to say it in a way that stopped people in their tracks.”

It’s working. The campaign has generated a dramatic 53 per cent change in the public perception.  As for the critics, the new transparency has changed that dialogue too but MacLauchlan admits that while McDonald’s will always be a “bulls-eye”, the campaign is an opportunity to set the record straight by providing the real facts. “We’ve got big shoulders,” she said, and although the dialogue sometimes gets uncomfortable, “we build our case around science and evidence, hoping that a rational approach will appeal, stating facts and correcting misinformation.”