Book Case
Corporate philanthropy is a noble endeavor - but you don't get extra credit if no one knows you're doing it. McDonald's owners in the New York Tri-State area supported local
reading initiatives for years under the umbrella of the franchise's "Arching into Education" program. But they received little recognition for sponsorship of programs run by
other organizations. In response, McDonald's created a "Check It Out" summer reading program, which earned the restaurant chain entrée to libraries, schools, and boys and girls
clubs, plus plenty of media coverage. The secret may seem counterintuitive, but it worked: the owners developed a lightly branded campaign focusing on kids and reading -
not on McDonald's.
"Education is the prime motivation," says Paul Cottrell, chairman of the New York metro co-op public relations committee for McDonald's. "If we wanted to drive sales, we'd be
out there on TV." Of course, when doing good just happens to inspire a few extra sales along the way, McDonald's doesn't put up a fight.
When in Doubt, Go to the Library
McDonald's worked with MWW Group to develop the campaign. The East Rutherford, N.J.-based communications firm did a little digging and discovered two-thirds of New York City
children failed to meet New York state reading standards in the spring of 1999. It also found that no other fast food chain was supporting a reading program.
With this research in pocket, MWW and McDonald's appealed to the Children Services Directors of the New York Tri-State library associations for information on how to make a
summer reading program more effective on a $50,000 budget. The team then leveraged the feedback it received to create "Check It Out" booklets, which included trivia questions on
classic books like The Cat in the Hat and Madeline, along with tips on quiet places to read a good book and other kid-targeted information on summer reading. The
back panel of the booklet featured spaces where a librarian or parent could write the names of five books a child had read. Once the child hit the five-book mark, the back panel
could be redeemed for a free Happy Meal.
Working with the library systems helped McDonald's solve the tough problem of legitimizing its corporate program with parents, educators and libraries. The technique worked so
well, in fact, that this year McDonald's incorporated copy prepared by the New Jersey library system into its new "Check It Out" booklet. Material from the library system offers
statistics and information for parents on getting involved in their kids' education.
The MWW team also partnered with libraries to support "Ronald Reading Hours," whereby Ronald McDonald conducted 10 reading hours in the Tri-State area over the course of the
campaign.
The lesson, according to the MWW team: libraries, schools and other gatekeeper organizations will embrace a program if you include them in the development stages instead of
dumping a full-grown program on them.
Cooperate with Police
Library partnerships were fruitful, but not sufficient in and of themselves to achieve a community-wide reach for the campaign, however. As such, McDonald's also teamed with
25 Police Athletic League chapters, five Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps and all New York school districts in summer session to distribute the booklets.
Once those distribution channels were established, McDonald's and MWW pitched the local media on the importance of summer reading and its effect on fall test scores, developed
customized press releases for each city in the Tri-State area, and offered the press photo coverage of Ronald Reading Hours.
Results: Read 'Em and Weep
Approximately 1,000 children attended the 10 Ronald Reading Hours, and 250,000 booklets reached kids through libraries, New York school districts, Police Athletic League
chapters, and boys and girls clubs. And while only 5,700 Happy Meal coupons were sent in for redemption, Cottrell predicts actual numbers of coupons used were much higher because
many owners accepted the coupons from kids and then didn't bother to redeem them since they have little impact on the bottom line. Plus, getting kids into restaurants wasn't the
goal.
Publicity for the campaign resulted in 26.3 million media impressions, positioning McDonald's not only as a corporation that's giving back to the community, but as a partner to
families and schools in fostering kids' reading skills. The Tri-State owners relaunched "Check It Out" on July 6 and immediately began receiving requests from owners, educators
and librarians who wanted to participate in this year's program - a clear indication, says Cottrell, that the program was doing something right.
The Team
MWW Group
201/964-2421
http://www.mwwpr.com
Dimple Maini, assistant account executive, MWW Group
Cheryll Ocampo, senior account supervisor, MWW Group
Paul Cottrell, chairman,
New York metro co op
PR committee for McDonald's