Day 257 - 06 Jun 96 - Page 59
1 view on how the customer saw us.
2
3 Q. Then did you do anything as a result of that?
4 A. Yes, we did a lot as a result of this.
5
6 Q. But this particular part?
7 A. This would not have been news to us in 1992. I mean,
8 this is an indication that -----
9
10 Q. It would not have been news to you or use, did you say,
11 sorry?
12 A. News to us. I mean, it would have been an indication
13 that we were broadly on strategy in being the UK's, you
14 know, favourite family eating experience.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But I thought maybe that was part of why
17 Ms. Steel asked the question she originally did. Did you
18 say you wanted to know the extent to which people were
19 affected by kids pestering so far as McDonald's were
20 concerned? Was that one of the topics you wanted the
21 researchers to look into?
22 A. No. The primary purpose of this research is to assess
23 McDonald's brand image in the customer's view. Basically,
24 what McDonald's means to the customer, where it sits in the
25 customer's mind. The research is not -- there is a comment
26 made on that that is part of a summary of an overall view
27 of usage. But it certainly is not the purpose of the
28 research.
29
30 MS. STEEL: But, anyway, you said that that would not have come
31 as news to you. So that has, basically, been the standard
32 situation for, I do not know, several years before this?
33 A. Yes. I mean, at this point, that is broadly a positive
34 from our perspective. It is the kind of thing you just
35 tick off as you go through. It is like, "Well, that is OK"
36 kind of thing.
37
38 Q. Right. Under "Service Imagery" -- actually, just before we
39 leave that other section, the one just above the second
40 pestering reference says, "Heavy users were more likely to
41 choose McDonald's on occasions when they were especially
42 hungry or want to eat late or alone". Is that a general
43 finding that heavy users, as well as coming in frequently,
44 actually tend to eat quite a lot?
45 A. Yes, because they tend to be under 25 young male, yes.
46 Back to what we saw in that previous piece of research in
47 the user and behaviour study about Big Mac, it backs up the
48 customer profile we see for heavy users and the other two
49 pieces of research.
50
51 Q. OK. If we can go back to "Service Imagery". In the first
52 paragraph the fourth line says, "McDonald's staff were
53 described as 'always frantic' by 40 per cent of customers",
54 and then, "but it was also rated best of all for lack of
55 slow service and never having to queue." Did that come as
56 news to you, or was that something you really knew already
57 anyway?
58 A. It is -- it was the first dawning that fast service can
59 be a double-edged sword image wise. But, quite simply, the
60 way it would have been taken is this is an interpretation
