Sign up to track 2,624 nationally aired TV ad campaigns for McDonald's, a Super Bowl advertiser. In the past 30 days, McDonald's has had 17,124 airings and earned a hot airing rank of #14 with an impressive spend ranking of #8 as compared to all other advertisers.

McDonald's marketing strategy has helped the company achieve the success it commands today. From the start of its growth, the company wanted to build strong brand recognition and market penetration to help promote its growing franchise business.

According to System1's Test Your Ad platform, which tests ads with 150 consumers, 98% recognised the 60-second spot was a McDonald's ad before the end. The average score within the category is 91%, indicating the ad's “exceptional” strength in brand recognition.

In the highly competitive fast-food industry, McDonald's has established itself as a global leader, serving over 69 million customers daily in more than 100 countries. A crucial element of its success lies in its well-crafted marketing strategy.

Understanding their customers in context McDonald's demonstrates that time and time again, they understand how and why their customers choose their brand. It's this intricate understanding of their audience tastes, motivations and behaviours that truly sets them a part.

McDonald's uses a value-based pricing strategy and strives to provide value to its customers across the menu, and also offers a $1-3 menu. In essence, their goal is to keep prices as low as possible.

McDonald's success can be attributed to a combination of factors, including its strong brand recognition, focus on customer experience, menu innovation, and franchise model.

McDonald's success can be attributed to a combination of factors, including its strong brand recognition, focus on customer experience, menu innovation, and franchise model.

According to System1's Test Your Ad platform, which tests ads with 150 consumers, 98% recognised the 60-second spot was a McDonald's ad before the end. The average score within the category is 91%, indicating the ad's “exceptional” strength in brand recognition.

McDonald's generic strategy is cost leadership, which builds competitive advantage through cost minimization. The company has standardized processes designed to maximize efficiency, minimize costs, and ensure profitability despite the use of competitive selling prices.

Here at McDonald's, our purpose is to feed and foster communities. When we say, “billions served,” we're not just talking about burgers. We're talking about serving our communities, customers, crew, farmers, franchisees and suppliers.

The McDonald's target audience is mainly lower to middle class consumers, who are interested in fast, cheap and convenient food. During the pandemic, the famous McDonald's drive-thru became even more popular. In 2020, the average drive-thru purchase took 349 seconds.