Supersize me: How we doubled McDonald's franchisee pipeline with an audience-first strategy.
McDonald's needed to reach a new generation of franchisee candidates. We built an end-to-end journey that met the right audiences with the right content and nurtured them from awareness to conversion.
At a glance impact.
2x
applications year over year.300x
increase in applications among target audiences.Challenge
For the last 50 years, McDonald's has taken a traditional approach to recruiting, using job fairs, events, and internal hires (relatives or employees of current owners) to find potential franchise candidates. But this conventional approach limited McDonald's pipeline, overlooking qualified candidates who were unaware of the franchise opportunity.
Recognizing this gap, the McDonald's US franchise team challenged Pretzl to help them reach a broader audience and inspire professionals and prospective entrepreneurs with diverse employment backgrounds to see themselves as McDonald's franchise owners for the first time ever.
Approach
Taking a prospect from zero awareness to franchise application requires more than conventional marketing. First, we needed to get inside the head of a franchise candidate to craft a campaign message tailored to them. Our messaging approach was aspirational, focusing on the difference a candidate can make, the value they bring, and the potential impact they can have on everyone they employ and empower as a restaurant owner. The Make Your Mark campaign was born.
Next, we needed to design an end-to-end journey to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time, and nurture them through paid and owned channels based on their behavior. In the past, McDonald's used corporate recruiting firms that targeted a limited pool of potential candidates based on net worth.
We refined the search criteria, casting a wider net to attract candidates with the aspirational mindset needed for a McDonald's franchising opportunity. We developed audience personas that went beyond firmographic specifications and traditional B2B buying group elements, working with data providers to create custom audiences aligned with our ideal candidates, and used targeted messaging to reach them.
Our approach included updating the website with new messaging, creating an email nurture flow, print and digital ad placements, and a range of assets detailing the franchise process and training program.
Impact
For the first time, the McDonald's Franchising team had a clear view of the candidate pipeline pre-application and could track increased application volume and the drivers behind it.
2x
applications year over year.300x
increase in applications among target audiences.More than a single activation, this program was a series of connected and sequential moments designed to propel target prospects through a journey.
Let's build customer experiences that turn interest into action.
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