In the End

Early in the millennium, McDonald’s underwent a massive directional change as its management recognized that the organization is not realizing the growth expected with a working brand. Not only had its stock price plummeted, the employees’ morale was low, and the overall customers’ satisfaction has also diminished. McDonald’s finally realized the need to revisit its marketing strategy and its brand experience building effort. In a similar situation, Starbucks, another recognizable brand in the economy, was also suffering from brand disconnection from its customers. According to Light and Kiddon (2009), “a brand is a promise that if you buy a particular brand, you will get a particular experience. (p.32) Both McDonald’s and Starbucks, upon recognizing that it needs to make goods on delivering the brand experience it promised, took a systematic approach to redirect the organization to connect with its customers and regain brand loyalty.

Critical to the revival of its brand, McDonald’s management team had a Plan to Win, in which the focus of the organization is clearly highlighted and its goals were established, but, most importantly, it called for Freedom Within a Framework, to allow for the global standardization of its stores and brand delivery to be possible, yet still be “both locally relevant while adhering to the global strictures. “(Light & Kiddon, 2009, p.39) As a result, McDonald’s launched the biggest remodeling the company has yet seen in all 30,000 locations in 119 countries. To adapt to the many locales of its presence, the organization adapted various designs in its stores to fit the neighborhood it is in, as long as it feels like a McDonalds and delivers the same experience, then the change is acceptable. In addition to sprucing up its eateries, McDonalds also added more items on its menu, such as salads, fruits, and coffee, to appeal to customers that are turned off by McDonald’s original menu, which did not offer many varieties. Moreover, it...