Audience, Part Four, Analysis Activity #3, PH 663
In Katrins Strapazzon’s explanation of target marketing by McDonald’s there are several aspects that overlap with health communication audience segmentation. There are several segments discussed in this video, some of which are more specific than others.
Clearly, McDonald’s is making an effort to segment, from changing menu items based on cultural and geographic preferences, to marketing to different demographic groups. It is unclear though at times if these groups they have segmented are truly specific. McDonald’s does seem to be marketing without functional meaning.
It’s unclear if McDonald’s is using metrics to place individuals into categories, and without further explanation to this it is hard to conclude if the company is able to operationalize why they are putting individuals or groups into certain segments or not. However, I imagine a huge company like McDonald’s is putting effort into this (but several advertisements with blatant segmentation come to mind that are not quite hitting home from a target audience perspective). I also have no idea what kind of research they are doing about their target audiences, so it is hard to compare this to what should be done in health communication.
They seem to be getting at some benefit segmentation, by offering items seasonally, and offering different prizes. This kind of segmentation may encourage those who do not normally eat at McDonald’s to frequent the restaurant at certain times, for some added or perceived benefit.
It seems a little all over the place that McDonald’s would try so many different segments, all of which are very different, which is not something common in health communication. I think in doing so, sometimes it may be off putting to other groups not identifying with the target audience. This could also be try of health communication, but advertisements for McDonald’s have more of a potential to reach other audiences. Perhaps they need to investigate the reach more.
In my opinion, McDonald’s focuses on demographic approaches, but often times this is blatant, so without analysis of how these target audiences actually respond to the marketing, it’s hard for me to say it’s appropriate. Perhaps a more comprehensive segmentation approach would be beneficial. But it also might not matter, since people will go to McDonald’s anyway, regardless of advertisement that is segmented or not! (Psychographic issues in their favor already??)
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