McDonald’s is a global brand with local appeal: Sanjeev Agrawal

Over the years, McDonald's has maintained its spot among the leading food service retailers in the world, with over 38,000 locations in over 100 countries. It opened its first restaurant in India more than 25 years ago in 1996. Since then, the fast food chain has become synonymous with quality fast food. With its customer-centric approach, McDonald's operates through a variety of formats and brand extensions, including standalone restaurants.

Recently, McDonald’s India – North and East unveiled its new brand ambassador Kartik Aaryan, a popular actor and a youth icon, for North and East India. After seeing success in the UK, McDonald’s India – North and East also launched the brand’s global flagship music IP "I'm lovin’ it Live" in India, in partnership with MTV.

Sanjeev Agrawal, Chairman, McDonald’s India – North and East, Armaan Malik and Anshul Ailawadi – Business Head, Youth, Music and English Entertainment cluster, Viacom18.

In a chat with e4m, group chairman, MMG and CPRL ((McDonald’s India – North and East), Sanjeev Agrawal shares various inputs on McDonald’s North-East expansion, Aaryan's onboarding as a brand ambassador and being a true-blue local brand. 

How does Kartik Aaryan connect to McDonald's as a brand and the youth of India?

Kartik Aaryan is a young vibrant icon who has an influence over the masses and brings happiness to people, which is quite on-brand for McDonald's. While this will obviously reflect well on our sales, it is not our target. With the association, we intend to make our people happier.

We also need some strategies to create an impact on the local audience because sometimes it's very difficult for the regional audience to understand the concept because it's a global brand.

By roping in Aaryan, who has a regional appeal, he will help in establishing the best local connection.

McDonald's plans market expansion in the north, in East India. How does McDonald's plan to expand the market, specifically in the northeast regions?

We have a great plan for North East. We recently opened the first restaurant in Guwahati and plan to open more next year. Then we are going to expand in all the Seven Sisters.

Will McDonald's see an absolute localization in 2023? What marketing strategy does it currently plan to implement to cater to the demands of the local area?

McDonald’s is a global brand but has been in India for more than 25 years. It’s already a very locally relevant brand featuring menu items inspired by local tastes and preferences. Everyone knows about McDonald's and we have so many core products like the McAloo Tikki Burger. Recently, we also launched Butter Chicken and Butter Paneer Burgers. So it's safe to say that McDonald’s is a global brand with local appeal.

As per the customers’ demands, we'll keep on innovating and launching new products. Right now, our market is 65% vegetarian. Since Northeast has a more non-vegetarian population, we will bring in more chicken products to cater to them.