McDonald's rolls out a 'Spicy' face-off

Conceptualised by Leo Burnett, the latest campaign introduces McDonald's new 'Indi' McSpicy range and asks consumers to choose between the original McSpicy range and the new desi avatar

Aanchal Kohli | Mumbai | October 26, 2015

Click on the image to watch the TVC.

This festive season, McDonald's reiterates its commitment towards introducing new and exciting products that are flavourful, localised and appeal to the taste palettes of Indian consumers. Over the past few years, the brand's McSpicy range of products has been widely popular among customers who prefer flavourful spices amalgamated with their cuisine.

The brand is known to mark its presence by creating an innovative buzz in the market and once again it has launched a 360-degree campaign which primarily asks the consumers nationwide to try both the classic McSpicy and the new variant. The audience is given a chance to let the brand decide what will stay in the menu and what will not. The campaign went live on October 22, 2015.

The new range of 'Indi' McSpicy burgers are seen giving their consumers a kick of desi spice with the unique flavour of green chilli sauce. McDonald's also introduced a masala-flavoured bun variant and a Mango Chilli McFlurry to compliment the new Indi McSpicy burgers.

To explore further, BestMediaInfo.com caught up with Kedar Teny, Director, Marketing & Digital, McDonald's India (West & South), and Leo Burnett's Chief Creative Officer, Rajdeepak Das, who provided details on this unique and heated 'Battle of Spicy'.

The spicy face-off

According to Teny, the McSpicy platform had witnessed tremendous success globally and was popular among patrons who experimented with food and were in tune with diverse cuisines and flavours.

With the festive season underway, McDonald's has launched a first-of-its-kind 'Battle of Spicy' campaign which enables customers to decide which burger will survive on the menu between the original McSpicy offerings and the new Indi McSpicy Burgers via a National Voting contest. Customers can opt for the Indi McSpicy Paneer or Chicken Burgers, which are enriched with flavourful spices from crown to heel.

The Indi McSpicy burgers will give consumers a kick of Indian spices with the unique pungent flavour green chilli sauce, which is made from locally sourced green chillies.

Kedar Teny

When asked how did the idea came up and why something on these lines, Kedar Teny said, “A consumer preference research done by the International Journal of Scientific and Research last year notes that 67 per cent of respondents preferred spicy flavour fast food in India reaffirms their belief that Indians likes it Hot & Spicy. Indian customers have a higher affinity towards local spices and the use of robust & full-bodied flavour.”

Campaign insights

In a market where most brands are opting for the discount strategy using the peak festive season, McDonald's has undertaken a more personalised approach for its campaign by focusing on a consumer-centric strategy. McDonald's is also creating a 'Battle of Spicy' campaign, which encourages customers to vote for their favourite McSpicy Burger. The Battle of Spicy will witness an interesting competition between the original McSpicy products versus the new range of 'Indi' McSpicy burgers. The customer votes will decide whether the new or the original burgers stay on the permanent menu at McDonald's. This  initiative showcases how McDonalds is designing their menu in a manner that encourages customers to be engaged more deeply with the brand, which in turn helps in increasing brand relevance and affinity among patrons.

Commenting on the launch, Teny said, “We have seen a rising demand from customers for spicy food in various forms, be it on the mains or sides. Our McSpicy range has been extremely popular among patrons and we thought this festive season let's make it more exciting by challenging the hot selling McSpicy burger with the Indi McSpicy, which is inspired by spices and ingredients which are closer to the Indian palate. To make it even spicier for our customers, we have spiced up our desserts as well and will be offering a Chilly Mango Flurry and SoftServe as a limited time offer during this period. This is a first ever on our most popular dessert pick on our menu.”

RajDeepak Das

RajDeepak Das added here, “It is an established fact that choosing gives consumers great joy and satisfaction. We used this ladder to create a solid engagement platform for McDonald's that would have a lasting effect on the minds of consumers.”

“This campaign gives consumers the chance to choose and decide which burger between McSpicy and Indi McSpicy shall be on the menu. We took the humour peg and roped in Raghu and Rajiv, India's most popular twin brothers to deliver the message among McDonald's lovers across the country. Watch this space for more,” he further said.

Media mix

Teny informed that the campaign would be seen across all platforms, including television, strongly supported by digital. Other platforms will include radio, print and out of home. McDonald's has also collaborated with Freecharge for giving customers who vote an exciting opportunity to win iPads and an iPhone 6. Customers who vote for their favourite McSpicy burger will also receive an assured cashback worth Rs 50 on Freecharge.

The response so far

Though these are early days, but Teny mentioned that the response so far had been really encouraging. The campaign is expected to raise its impact among the consumers in the coming days.

Why Raghu and Rajiv?

The TVC feature the twins Raghu and Rajiv (seen in the movie 'Tees Maar Khan'), who are seen debating which burger would do well. So far, McDonald's has steered clear of using well-known faces in its campaign, except in an earlier campaign featuring Paresh Rawal. When asked about using Raghu and Rajiv for the latest campaign, Teny said, “The objective was not to use them as a popular face, but they go well with the concept of the campaign.”

According to Das, “It was a brilliant decision to take Raghu and Rajiv and they performed really well in the campaign. The duo clearly fits well in the concept as how similar both look yet how different they are same like the two burgers.”

The TVC:

https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/

Credits:

Client: McDonald's

Creative agency: Leo Burnett

Chief Creative Officer - Rajdeepak Das

Executive Creative Directo?rs - Prajato Guha Thakurta, Sachin Kamble

Creative Team - Ashish Sharma, Aalap Desai, Amit Pandya, Manas Keer, Saif Razvi, Sambhav Khandelwal, Pratik Khara, Indrajeet Kadam, Gaurav Joshi?

Executive Vice President - Rakesh Hinduja

Account Management - Abhishek Jha, Supriya Bhasin, Sayantan Bhattacharya, Pradeep Mistry, Aditya Atre, Pratik Adhikari, Joanna Grover

Planning Associate - Divya Agarwal

TVC Director - Nikhil Chalam

TVC Producer - Gaurrav Dhar

TVC Production House - Cutawayy Films

TVC Music Director - Subhajit Mukherjee

Digital Agency: Tonic Media

PR Agency: Torque Communications

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