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Section 05
Food & Drink // FAST FOOD
THE CATEGORIES
10-YEAR TRENDS & ANALYSIS
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Fast food leads categories
in growth of Brand Value
Fast food led all 13 categories in the
BrandZ Global Top 100 report in the
rate of Brand Value growth over the past
10 years. The BrandZ Fast Food Top 10
grew 252 percent in Brand Value over
the past 10 years, double the pace of the
Top 100, which grew 126 percent.
The Fast Food Top 10 also improved
in Brand Power, the BrandZ
measurement of brand equity. Between
2006 and 2015, Brand Power of the Fast
Food Top 10 grew from 103 to 146. An
average brand scores 100.
McDonald’s, more valuable than the
rest of the category put together,
maintained brand power as new
competitors, such as Chipotle and
Panera introduced new category
concepts, Starbucks refurbished its
brand, Domino’s Pizza renewed its
recipe and Burger King rebounded.
However, consumer opinion of fast
food brands as being responsible
declined sharply during the recession
and then recovered, but not to its
former level. In 2008 the Fast Food Top
10 scored higher than the Top 100 in
responsibility, 110 compared with 103,
on an index where an average brand
scores 100.
During the recession, the Fast Food
Top 10 responsibility score declined
below 100. It’s only 103 today, while
the Top 100 score has increased to 107.
These findings suggest that the global
economic crisis left consumers skeptical
about brand responsibility across many
categories and especially fast food.
While the Fast Food Top 10 high Brand
Value and Brand Power scores reflect
how consistently these brands delivered
affordable and tasty food over the
past 10 years, that achievement may
no longer be enough to meet rising
consumer concerns about supply chain
ethics and food healthiness.
Consumers skeptical about responsibility of fast-food brands
Consumer opinion of fast-food brands as being responsible declined sharply during
the recession and then rebounded, but not to its former level.
Fast Food Top 10
Global Top 100
100
110
103 103
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
106
Within weeks of Easterbrook’s appointment,
McDonald’s announced US plans to phase
out menu items made from chickens treated
with most antibiotics. It also offered the
option of milk from cows not treated with
growth hormones. And the company raised
employee hourly wages in US companyowned
stores as a step toward creating a
devoted workforce and improving customer
experience.
Higher purpose
Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz most
clearly demonstrated the power of a CEO
to connect a brand to a higher purpose.
Before other fast food and retail brands
felt pressured to raise employee minimum
wages, Starbucks paid higher hourly
rates and introduced a college tuition
reimbursement program for employees.
When the recent period of high
unemployment coincided with the return
of many soldiers from wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, Starbucks pledged to hire
10,000 veterans or their spouses.
INSIGHT
Experience
differentiates
brands
We’re seeing a rise in food quality
over time. But that’s homogenizing
the category at a relatively high
level. In many categories it’s difficult
to buy a really bad product. In
fast food it’s getting harder to find
a bad meal with virtually all the
traditional players improving their
offers. A quality experience can be
an important differentiator. It can
sometimes nullify price as a factor.
Philip Herr
Senior Vice President
Millward Brown
Philip.Herr@millwardbrown.com
BRAND BUILDING
ACTION POINTS
1. Add meaning. Many fast food leaders
have grown to global scale because
they are excellent, well-run machines.
But the machine model doesn’t go
far enough anymore. It’s necessary to
add layers to the machine, perhaps a
personal touch, a sense of generosity
to the customer or the commitment to
stand for something larger.
And when Americans protested a
controversial grand jury decision regarding
the shooting of an African American by
white police officers, Shultz inserted
Starbucks into the national conversation
about race.
These initiatives inspired both supporters
and critics. They reinforced Starbucks'
credentials as a bold and forceful brand from
which customers can expect strong jolts of
caffeine and progressive social opinion and
action.
Practical business
With 21,366 locations in 65 countries,
Starbucks has enormous impact on the
environment and the lives of people along
the supply chain. But like its competitors,
Starbucks is in business to make money, and
it did. Food sales, including its new sodas,
bakery and other offerings, increased the
average ticket; as a result same-store sales
grew 6 percent.
Similarly, some of the fixes McDonald’s
implemented under Easterbrook were
more for driving revenue than clarifying
purpose. The chain announced the plans
to experiment with all-day breakfast, for
example. Extending a popular and profitable
daypart was easier and less expensive than
adding new menu items.
Domino’s Pizza enjoyed its fifth year of
like-for-like sales growth following the
reformulation of its pizza recipe. Flavor
improvement was only one part of the
Domino’s success story. The brand
also focused attention on fewer, more
impactful offerings and invested in brand
communication and digital.
2. Be purpose driven. Whatever promise
the brand stands for, deliver it
consistently, from supply through to
the restaurant experience and brand
communications. Also, renew the
operation regularly because if it’s good,
a competitor is ready to copy it.
McDonald’s, Starbucks and Panera were
among the first fast-food restaurants to
accept Apple Pay when it was introduced.
At Starbucks, which offered its own
payment system, 16 percent of US
purchases were transacted using mobile.
Starbucks also planned to experiment with
mobile ordering.
Transparency and
ingredients
In an effort to be more transparent and
meet criticisms head-on, McDonald’s
launched its “Our Food, Your Questions”
campaign, in which a brand spokesperson
frankly answers customer questions such as
why the burger in the box doesn’t quite look
like the burger in the advertising.
That kind of transparency has worked
in the past. Domino’s Pizza launched its
new pizza recipe with a video of mortified
executives vowing to improve the taste of
the pizza, and courageously revealing that
focus groups at the time compared it with
cardboard.
Chipotle introduced a satirical video series
called “Farmed and Dangerous,” which
expanded on earlier videos that demeaned
industrial agriculture and associated the
brand with natural and more wholesome
sourcing.
The company increased the transparency
of efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate
genetically modified food. Food safety
issues related to meat sourcing in China
hurt McDonald’s as well as KFC and Pizza
Hut, both part of Yum! Brands.
3. Renew and improve the brand
experience. How customers experience
the brand depends on multiple factors
including food quality and taste,
speed and friendliness of service, and
the restaurant environment. In fast
food, change happens fast; a new
concept today can be playing catch-up
tomorrow.
FUTURE VIEW
Concerns about health and
wellness will influence the
food choices that people make.
But people will be open to
occasional indulgences.
Ingredient sourcing will
influence choice, as
people increasingly will
prefer sustainable, locallygrown
organic options.
Consumers will be open to
new food tastes. Some will be
variations on existing products,
e.g. Shake Shake Fries -
French fries serviced with
small pouches of seasoning,
a McDonald’s menu item
from Asia that’s increasingly
available in the US.
Price will remain
important, but most
consumers won’t calculate
price to the penny. They’ll
look at a price band - $5
to $8, for example - select
whatever best meets their
needs.
Source: BrandZ / Millward Brown
Average brand = 100
124 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2015 125