The McDonalds App: an Advertising Angel

A common struggle of many hungry teenagers; what do I want to eat? A common dialogue between my brother and I is as follows:
"I think I want some fast-food, should we get McDonalds or Burger King?"
"Well they're both equally garbage, I don't care."
"I got a fire coupon for a buy-one-get-one-free Big Mac on my phone, we're getting Mickey D's"

And thus McDonalds has won over the business of two hungry teenagers, not by offering better food but by offering a better deal. It's clear that businesses are always competing to offer better deals and thus allure greater sales, and companies have mobilized deals and coupons to persuade buyers. Of course mail coupons have been a greatly utilized technique to make make this happen, but I've noticed a rise in a new technique: mobile applications and streams of text messages made by a company that gives a constant feed of deals and coupons to customers. I've fallen participant in one of these by downloading the McDonalds app (yes, it exists). I was captured by a McDonalds ad in twitter that promised me a free BigMac if I downloaded their app; how could I turn that down. So I got the app, got my free burger, and realized this app is a money saving angel sent to me by the McD gods. Every week, new coupons are presented to me in notifications. Ohh, a free small fries with any purchase, I should use this before it expires. While it is beneficial to me, it's also beneficial to McDonalds, who just persuaded me to buy a burger.


This is a highly potent advertising technique done by companies; utilizing bribery and time pressure in a manner that is able to be highly received or viewed by potential customers. I've seen the same technique of compelling people to subscribe to a constant feed of coupons by Subway, who promised a free 6-inch sub if you text this number. I texted the number, got my free sub, and now get offers from them every week. It's obvious this tactic is effective since numerous food chains have been using it. I quite like it, and its a win-win; I save money and they get my money. Well played McDonalds, well played.