"With Taco Bell, the launch of breakfast seems to be having a
positive influence," said Mr. Marzilli. But it's campaign tweaking
McDonald's could also be a thorn in McDonald's side. "It's also
possible that Taco Bell's breakfast launch, which is very much
calling out McDonald's, is having a negative impact on McDonald's
scores," he said. "We can't say that for certain, but when we see
comparison ads, from our perspective, it's likely to be a
contributing factor to McDonald's scores continuing to go
down."
Taco Bell's massive breakfast campaign includes TV spots in
which a host of real people named Ronald McDonald proclaim their
love for Taco Bell's breakfast. No direct mention was made of the
Golden Arches, but the next spot, which broke this week, directly
calls out McDonald's and its Egg McMuffin, casting them both as
hopelessly outdated. Taco Bell framed its breakfast in the most
recent spot as the "next generation" of breakfast, according to
Chief Marketing Officer Chris Brandt.
McDonald's, which had been working to fight sluggish sales, is
in the midst of a two-week promotion offering free small coffees during breakfast,
a move it announced a day after Taco Bell launched breakfast. And
while McDonald's hasn't launched any TV campaigns that call out
Taco Bell, it did post a couple responses to Taco Bell's campaign
on social media.
The buzz chart for McDonald's and Taco Bell looks like a fork in
the road beginning in mid-March: going up is Taco Bell, moving from
11 to the present 15. Going the other way is McDonald's, descending
from 11 to 9.
McDonald's impression score slid from 27 on Feb. 1 down to 19 on
April 4th, making a slight upturn to 20 the next day, "possibly in
reaction to their Facebook response to Taco Bell of posting Ronald
McDonald petting a Chihuahua," the YouGov reported noted, adding
that "Taco Bell's impression score has remained steady during this
time, currently sitting at 24."
He also also noted that purchase consideration has gone down a
bit for McDonald's and up slightly for Taco Bell, though he said
that McDonald's far outpaces Taco Bell as a chain that consumers
consider to patronize. Fourteen months ago, 49% of consumers said
they considered eating at McDonald's; that number has decreased to
45%. During that same time period Taco Bell went from 30% to
32%.
"These frequent industry snapshots capture a moment in time,"
said McDonald's in a statement commenting on the study. "We're
always focused on listening to our customers, and serving them
great tasting McDonald's food and beverages, providing an enjoyable
restaurant experience."
Of course, as category leader, McDonald's is the most prone to
criticism. "McDonald's tends to receive the brunt of any sort of
action in that space, because they're the biggest in the category,"
said Mr. Marzilli. The chain has taken a lot of heat for low wages
in fast food, which has been widely protested in the last
year-plus. And the chain and some franchisees in March were slapped
with employee lawsuits in California, Michigan and New York that
charged it illegally underpaid employees by erasing hours from
their timecards, among other things. Mr. Marzilli added that
McDonald's move to the Dollar Menu & More last year, which gave
the chain freedom to raise prices, didn't go over well with some
consumers.
All respondents were age 18 and over, and have eaten fast-food
at least once in the past six months. YouGov BrandIndex's buzz and
impression scores range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by
subtracting negative feedback from positive.
In YouGov's purchase consideration ranking for dining
establishments for consumers surveyed in the last three months,
Subway is No. 1, McDonald's is No 2. Wendy's is No. 3. Taco Bell is
No. 10.
