• by John Gaffney , February 11, 2003

McDonald’s asked its agencies to embrace a new vision earlier this week at its global marketing meeting, but one fast food expert says that might not be what the chain needs.

“McDonald’s does a lot of things well,” says Bob Sandleman, CEO of restaurant consultant Sandleman and Associates. “It’s hard to say what’s wrong there. It may just be that its competitors do a lot of things better.”

A new mission statement and a demand for a new corporate brand direction was among the topics, according to several reports, at McDonald’s headquarters last week. Current agencies DDB and Leo Burnett were in attendance. A new theme “our customers favorite place and way to eat” is reportedly on the table for agencies to illustrate. But according to Sandleman, there’s not much to fix on the ad side. He said the chain has there major strengths that it should continue to promote. The advertising itself, according to Sandleman, should be more urgent about “new and better food” that customers should checks out. The three strengths are:

Breakfast: McDonald’s breakfast food scores much higher than other menu items, and has very little competition.

Connection With Kids: “Ask anybody who works at McDonald’s what the company’s strengths are and they will tell you Ronald McDonald and the connection with kids,” Sandleman said.

Advertising Strategy: “You have to hit the consumer when their making the decision to eat,” Sandleman said. “And that doesn’t happen very far in advance. McDonald’s is so pervasive in its ad messaging that it does the best of all competitors in dominating share of mind.”

The advertising itself, according to Sandleman, should be more urgent about “new and better food” to win back more customers. However, the case maybe that Subway, Boston Market, Wendy’s and other competitors have simply learned to play the game better.