Day 048 - 08 Nov 94 - Page 51


     
     1   MS. STEEL: The company.  Do you remember that?
     2        A.  I remember that, yes.
     3
     4   Q.   I think you said that was a survey that had been done and
     5        you had seen the survey; is that right?
     6        A.  That is right.
     7
     8   Q.   And is that report a fairly accurate reflection of what was
     9        in the survey?
    10        A.  It is, like most things that appear in a snippet from
    11        the report, just one small piece. In effect, it was quite a
    12        large research study and in a way to try and personify
    13        certain traits and characteristics, certain words were
    14        given to it and it is only those words that have been
    15        picked out and quoted there.
    16
    17   Q.   But overall what was the survey saying? Was it saying those
    18        things, that customers had said those things, or what?
    19        A.  Overall, it was to do with, when McDonalds sells food
    20        quickly, the positive side of that is you get your food
    21        served quickly. The negative side of that is people will
    22        say that the food gets thrown at you, that it is too quick,
    23        etc.  Our restaurants are extremely clean.
    24        The reverse side of that is people will say it is cold and
    25        clinical and it was really trying to position these two
    26        areas and putting a personality to those apparent negatives
    27        of clinical, etc etc.  The same with American, because it
    28        is known to be an American company, so it takes on....
    29
    30   Q.   But those words, were they known to be the predominant
    31        feeling, is what I am trying to get at, in the survey were
    32        they the predominant feeling of the people that were
    33        surveyed?
    34        A.  No. What the survey did, it surveyed our current
    35        customers, our sort of heavy users and also people that for
    36        whatever reasons had decided not to visit McDonalds as
    37        regularly, were declining in their visits, those traits
    38        were then demonstrable of those that were declining in
    39        their visits. We did not get that from our regular customer
    40        base.
    41
    42   Q.   You mention the heavy users and say you did not get it from
    43        them?
    44        A.  No.  The heavy users by definition would not be
    45        painting negatives of us because they are using us
    46        regularly.
    47
    48   Q.   So, who was saying these things?
    49        A.  The people that are using us lighter, less frequently.
    50        Had moved away from the brand, if you like. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Right, but was it the majority of people in the survey that 
    53        were saying these things or was it just like----
    54        A.  No.  We targeted the survey to the people, our heavy
    55        users, so we would ask people in very crude terms, we would
    56        ask them how often they use McDonalds, and they would tell
    57        us and then we would rate them as being a heavy user or a
    58        light user or whatever. We would then ask both categories
    59        the questions of why they visited McDonald's and of the
    60        lighter users, the majority of the reasons of the lighter

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