So most of you have probably heard about the pickle club by now. For those of you who haven't, i shall explain it.
It was about 2 and a half weeks ago that i first heard about Pickle club. Pickle club is a Facebook page used to promote the new Mc Donald's store that has just opened up in Malvern East (right near uni). Fans like the page to receive amazing daily deals such as; $1 Big Macs, $1 Quarter pounders, 50 cent cheeseburgers, $2 Mc Flurry's etc. They also offered fans free ice cream cones when Pickle club received 1700 "likes".
When i first heard about this I thought "that sounds too good to be true, it can't be real". So that night I went and tried it out, and bought a $1 Big Mac, it worked!! The very next day the power at my house got turned off for 8 hours, so there was no meat for me to cook. It was late, so i checked Pickle Club and went and bought $1 Quarter pounders for dinner. I told friends about the pickle club, they later joined it. The next day they asked my husband and I to go get $2 Mc Flurry's with them, we said yes.
For the next few days I kept thinking, Why is Mc Donald's doing this? They are selling their products at heavily discounted prices, this can't be sustainable, what is in it for them? It was my husband who answered my question when he said "Wow they're really clever using this whole pickle club thing". I still didn't understand. He went on to explain that although we live in Caulfield, and Malvern East is our closest Mc Donald's, we had never been there until pickle club. He also added the fact that although we bought a discounted Big Mac, we then payed full price for chips and a drink. Furthermore, we went to Mc Donald's 3 nights in a row, when we would usually go about once every 2 months. I then understood it all perfectly.
Pickle club is an amazing tool to encourage consumers to visit the new Mc Donald's store and to generate store traffic. Furthermore, its target market is Uni students, as it is very close to Uni. Thus, what better way to reach Uni students than through Facebook and cheap food. Not only does this encourage Uni students to visit this store, but to do so regularly. In addition, it encourages consumers to try food they wouldn't otherwise purchase (e.g. I had never eaten a quarter pounder, until it was the pickle club daily offer).
For those of you who aren't already part of Pickle club, i highly recommend you join. I love Pickle club, but i do have to learn to place a limit on it, Mc Donald's 3 days in a row was just too much!!
$ a Big MAc adds 2 meats...u now get a discount Mega Mac...lol @ Maccas
ReplyDeleteA perfect way to appeal to poor uni students!
ReplyDeleteSpyke - There is no way i could eat a mega mac, i can barely finish a quarter pounder by myself. Have you tried the mega mac? Did they offer the mega mac on Pickle club?
ReplyDeleteWags - I think pickle club is brilliant marketing! It encoruages; trial, repeat purchase, to the right target market and though the right medium.
I think it's been a really great way to generate some business - I have made decisions to purchase items there, when I normally wouldn't. I don't really like McDonald's but normally the arguement against eating out is that it's not that cheap and it's not healthy. But now that's its cheap and has always been quick - It's hard to ignore.
ReplyDeleteI have a question though; What other businesses could this strategy be applied to effectively? What businesses would it add no value to?
I think this strategy could be applied to a wide range of businesses such as; any take away food store, bakery's, grocery stores (this could be similar to the IGA sms deals mentioned in the lecture last week, however they could take it to facebook), clothing stores could also offer specials via their facebook page (however, things wouldnt be as cheaps as $1, rather maybe 10% discount on items etc) etc.
ReplyDeleteAlthough a wide range of businesses could use this, i think take away businesses would bemefit the most from this strategy as it just seems to fit their product and service.