• Ad Age, Wednesday, May 13, 2009 10:45 AM

By quietly boosted its advertising of full-priced items, McDonald's is attracting customers who have more than just a buck or two in their pocket, Emily Bryson York reports. Product-specific pushes for Big Mac last July, chicken nuggets in December and the Quarter Pounder with cheese in February have resulted in double-digit sales increases for each.

Although the chain remains committed to its successful Dollar Menu, market-share figures show that it has become less dependent on its lower-margin fare. The low-price menu dropped from 13% of the chain's sales to 10% during the last quarter.

McDonald's is "truly going to be a great Harvard case story for their performance over the last five years," says Dennis Lombardi, evp-food services at WD Partners. The chain is "resonating with the consumer on a lot of different levels," he says, with a relentless focus on marketing, seemingly happy franchises and impressive store-level execution.

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