"Nothing truer than sales and how many people walked into the store": Kedar Teny, McDonald's

McDonald’s has tied up with the Angry Birds movie to introduce modified offerings across desserts as well as toys for its 'Happy Meal' range. A TVC conceptualised by Leo Burnett has also gone on air to showcase the same. 

 

We caught up with Kedar Teny, director, marketing and digital – McDonald’s India (West & South), to learn more about how the brand is leveraging the global association here.

 

This association is part of a global tie-up. What made you bring it to India?

 

Most of the global tie-ups come in to India. The reason we enter such associations globally is because they cut through markets. We've done it in the past two years with Kung Fu Panda, Minions and now Angry Birds. The scale we promote it at in different markets varies though. The US will probably see more of this than India. 

 

Most of your past associations have been with Hollywood releases. Do you look at Bollywood too? What's the difference in returns on both?

 

We do so (the associations) depending on the content that is made available and whether that can find synergy with both adults and kids. In Bollywood, we had associated with Ra-One. The scale a global release gives the brand is phenomenal, because its get more support with toys, menu etc. 

 

Content of that nature in Bollywood is hard to come by but we are open to it. When there's the right content available, we are open to it.

 

What returns do you expect, how will you measure increase in affinity?

 

Typically, there’s nothing truer than sales and how many people walked into the store. 

 

Most of our associations come in the summer months because of the global releases and so it makes sense for us to promote our desserts. Some have made it across to the savoury offerings too. 

 

How will you leverage this?

 

The TVC for Angry Birds went on on air earlier this week. Along with the presence in the menu, there's also the toy on 'Happy Meals'. There's also a digital and on-ground leg. The activations are across 12 to 15 malls in the key markets, were an Angry Birds game scenario was created. We also got a Red Angry Bird to deliver to two of our customers through a contest. There was a meet and greet organised in stores too.