Week 1: Lesson task: Question 2 – Malin Steffen Berg

This weeks lesson task number 2 is to research the history of McDonald’s and explain which parts of the SCAMPER-model are evident in McDonald’s development onto it’s current success. Since the task is to explain parts of the SCAMPER-model, I didn’t include all the parts of the model, but focused on the parts that I thought was most relevant and important for McDonald’s.

This is the SCAMPER-model:

S – Substitute

C – Combine

A – Adapt

M – Modify or Magnify

P – Put to other uses

E – Eliminate

R – Reverse or Rearrange

According to Interbrand, McDonald’s is currently the 9th best global brand, which means that they have a lot to live up to. And to live up to all the expectations of McDonald’s customers, they must always be ahead and innovate.

Sustainability is becoming more and more important due to climate changes and global warming. Plastic waste in the ocean is also a huge and growing problem, which causes damage to fish and other animals in the sea. Take-out orders alone account for around 269.000 tons of plastic waste. As a result of this, McDonald’s Norway substituted all of their plastic straws with paper straws in March 2019, to offer a recycable and more sustainable product. In july 2018 they did a similar thing, eliminating the plastic lid on McFlurry.

Image: Pexels.com

In the early 2000s, people realized that fast food is super unhealthy, and many people were looking for healthier options. In 2004, McDonald’s adapted to what people wanted, and started to offer healthier options to their menu such as salads and slices of apples. Because of McDonald’s massive reach, they accounted for 10% of all sliced apples sold in America.

Image: Pexels.com

Whenever there is a big event happening in the world, like the Olympics or the Fifa World Cup, McDonald’s offer their customers limited gifts if they buy a certain type of meal. This is probably because McDonald’s is one of the biggest sponsors in Fifa World Cup and was one of the biggest sponsors in the Olympics. For example, they run campaigns where you can get a Coca-Cola glass for free if you buy a certain type of meal. That way they combine their food with free gifts, causing the sales to increase and drawing even more attention to the Fifa World Cup. The same combination is seen in Happy Meals, where they combine food with toys.

Image: McDonald’s Norway

The first McDonald’s restaurants had flat roofs with “the Golden Arches” to highlight McDonald’s Speedee Service System. When McDonald’s modified their roofs from flat to the Mansard Roof, they kept the Golden Arches by making big road signs. Many people think that the yellow “M” in McDonald’s logo is symbolizing fries, but it is actually magnifying the golden arches from the first restaurants.

Image: McDonald’s

McDonald’s and Covid-19

Earlier this year (2020), when the pandemic was a fact, McDonald’s had to make changes to their menu to simplify operations for it’s crew members. They temporarily removed some items from the menu and the all-day breakfast option was eliminated. They also rearranged their logo to point out the importance of social distancing, by separating the two Golden Arches. This was also done by a lot of other big global brands.