The Curious Case of the Feng Shui McDonald's

Some might have read the story about a McDonald’s just outside of LA that got that got a Feng Shui makeover, complete with leather booths, waterfalls, bamboo planters, and doors that aren’t aligned in order to keep out bad spirits (I originally stumbled upon this NPR article). The move was made when census data indicated a boom in the Asian population of the area. Whether one believes in the principles of the art of Feng Shui or not is really secondary. The owner of that franchise reported that sales had been very strong since.
But this got me to thinking from the angle of brand marketing, and it struck me that something so simple, and yet so major was occurring here.
McDonalds is one of the most well-known, well maintained brands in the world. From Tokyo to St. Petersburg, and London to up somewhere up the block, McDonalds has always prided itself on providing a similar experience no matter where you are. The Big Mac I had in Dublin several years ago tasted the same as the Big Mac I could have here at home, and while the McDonalds I visited in Honolulu served a breakfast platter that included rice and grilled SPAM, and the trashcan doors read “Aloha” rather than “Thank you”, the swivel chairs were the same. The menu was presented in the same order, and at no time did I find myself wondering “this is a McDonald’s?”
So then why would there be a Feng Shui McDonald’s? As I pondered the idea, a friend of mine told me of a McDonald’s near her that had been made to appear like a jazzy piano bar. When we discussed the area it was in, it seemed to snuggly fit into the atmosphere of the area. It started to become clear.
The answer was customization.
The online world has known for years that it’s not enough anymore to simply provide information or services. More and more customers are demanding an experience that can be tailored with them in mind. Whether it’s Scion offering the ability to customize your car online, Nike offering customized shoes, or MSN and Yahoo simply remembering your search preferences, the online environment in its flexibility has created an expectation for customers, and now many believe that their reality should match that.
One often thinks that a brand is simply in how a company may advertise itself or what is contained in its communications. It becomes easy to overlook the fact that a brand is also, and maybe more importantly, the experience a customer takes away. Now in an era of customization, one has to wonder, how do maintain that?
For McDonald’s, the answer might be in the essence of what it provides. The menu is largely the same, and the thought that one is having a quick, delightful, inexpensive dining experience isn’t altered by the curvature of the seating. But what does that mean for other brands? Truth is, each case will have it’s own line to walk, but the time that consistency alone was enough is gone.