Day 257 - 06 Jun 96 - Page 49


     
     1        the USA targets heavy users to encourage them to visit more
     2        often, through advertising and so on.  Is that the same for
     3        the UK?
     4        A.  I am not an expert on the US market, but my
     5        understanding is that the US market focuses and
     6        concentrates upon what they call superheavy users because
     7        they contribute such a large proportion of their business.
     8        So, in order to kind of maintain business momentum any
     9        activity they pursue has to work against the segment within
    10        their user base that contributes the biggest proportion of
    11        sales.  Therefore, inherently they are targeting superheavy
    12        users in order to make their business move along.  But,
    13        yes, it is our intention to encourage frequency of visit in
    14        the UK market.
    15
    16        Checked to ^^ here.
    17
    18   Q.   Right.
    19        A.  The word would be 'enable' rather than 'encourage',
    20        I think.
    21
    22   Q.   So, the advertising would be geared towards regular
    23        customers and encouraging them to make more use of
    24        McDonald's?
    25        A.  The prime role of advertising is, in my understanding,
    26        as a reminder to aid to memory, once we find that one of
    27        the main enablers of frequency visit is, in fact, more
    28        restaurants and restaurant expansion.  The combination of
    29        advertising is an aid to memory and the ability to use or,
    30        yes, use McDonald's, is what facilitates more frequency of
    31        visit.  It is the two things working together.
    32
    33   Q.   But if you have a McDonald's, I mean, there is nothing
    34        there to stop anyone using it, is there?  It is not like
    35        enabling in the sense of--
    36        A.  No, that is correct.  But the advertising works also in
    37        the context, particularly in our US market, of competitive
    38        activity as well, and because a large proportion of visits
    39        to informal eating out restaurants are impulse visits,
    40        people do not plan them very much in advance.  It is very
    41        important for businesses operating in the sector to
    42        maintain what we call "top of mind awareness", because "top
    43        of mind awareness" means people might be more inclined to
    44        use McDonald's rather than Burger King or, you know,
    45        vice-versa.  So, if Burger King are on TV more heavily than
    46        McDonald's in one month, it may well be that people go to
    47        Burger King first over McDonald's or vice-versa if it is
    48        equally easy for them to use both outlets.
    49
    50   Q.   Right.  It is just this "enabling" phrase. 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Is there any difference between -- you make 
    53        care to use the phrase "enable", but does it amount to
    54        "encourage"?
    55        A.  I suppose, effectively, the role of advertising could
    56        be taken to be that, yes.
    57
    58   Q.   Yes.  But when you said it is your intention to encourage
    59        and then you said, or rather to enable frequency of visits
    60        in the UK, you meant "to encourage", did you?

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