ON THE MENU: REDUCED RISK MARKETING FOR MCDONALD’S SOUTH AFRICA

INTRODUCTION

Marketing material and company communications should reflect your business and brands responsibly, consistently and truthfully. Compliance with the law and industry-accepted standards is non-negotiable, but there are often more legalities to marketing and communications than meet the eye.

From promotional material and T&C’s, to the protection of personal information and compliance with laws like the Consumer Protection Act, product labelling regulations and industry codes, there is very real legal risk associated with consumer marketing. And with social media in the mix, even small mistakes can go viral with the click of a button.

McDonald’s South Africa is a highly visible company with extensive marketing campaigns and an international reputation to protect. For several years, McDonald’s has trusted Whipping the Cat to guide and support its marketing initiatives.

Whipping the Cat handles the full range of marketing and promotional activities for McDonald’s on a retainer basis. Broadly, this includes: pre-clearing all promotional and new product material drafting promotional T&C’s running CPA-compliant promotions and giveaways pre-vetting radio scripts and TV ads drafting agreements with advertising agencies, PR firms and promoters dealing with advertising complaints

MAY 2015 www.whippingthecat.com

REDUCING LEGAL RISK – BETTER AND FASTERWhipping the Cat’s team of commercial law advisors

has extensive experience in identifying, mitigating and

solving legal issues across all functions in the marketing,

advertising and communications space. Whipping the Cat

delivers practical legal solutions quickly – to suit the tight

response times required by companies like McDonald’s.

McDonald’s has engaged Whipping the Cat to draft and review several key marketing-related agreements including:

A retainer contract with its advertising agency

A retainer contract with its digital agency

Agreements with promoters like Ronald McDonald and DJ Euphonic

A national sponsorship agreement for U14 Schools Soccer

2010 FIFA® Soccer World Cup player escort agreement

Whipping the Cat has provided end-to-end assistance and legal advice to McDonald’s on large promotional campaigns such as:

FIFA® World Cup ticket giveaway

Monopoly® promotional competition

Top Jock/Street Rhythm promotional competition

National Breakfast Day promotional giveaway

Whipping the Cat has also helped McDonald’s mitigate legal risk when running major marketing campaigns like:

Sharebox new product launch

Smurfs

Love your Mornings

McFizz

Legal quality is a given…Whipping the Cat is a NextLaw service provider unshackled by the constraints of law firm hierarchy and time-based billing. We focus on client satisfaction not hours billed, on pragmatic solutions not legalistic overkill, and on process, improvement and innovation to stay relevant in a changing world.

WHIPPING THE CAT DELIVERS

PRACTICAL LEGAL SOLUTIONS QUICKLY

PLACING CLIENTS FRONT AND CENTRE

Whipping the Cat’s service is under-pinned by its training of the McDonald’s marketing team, which ensures they are aware of the latest legal developments, rulings and mistakes made by other companies.

Positive feedback from McDonald’s staff shows Whipping the Cat continues to meet its promises of short turn-around times, manageable and transparent legal costs and a “can do” attitude when navigating legal complexity.

Through its understanding of the challenges and legal issues facing the busy and fast-moving QSR environment, Whipping the Cat mitigates risk and deliver excellent value and return on investment to McDonald’s.

MAKING A MEAL OF IT: When a franchisee launched a promotion with the call to action: “Buy a

burger and win a TV”, the promotional material was not pre-vetted by Whipping the Cat. The franchisee gave away more TV’s than he’d bargained for, when a simple change to the wording could have spared him, i.e.:

When an international McDonald’s TV ad was flighted in South Africa without Whipping the Cat’s pre-clearance, it resulted in an ASA complaint because the ad was aimed at children and used superhero characters in an aspirational way.

SUPERSIZE SUCCESS STORY: Since McDonald’s engaged

Whipping the Cat, only three complaints have been lodged against McDonald’s South Africa with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Whipping the Cat ensured that all three ASA complaints were successfully attended to through written submissions and without referral to adjudication.

“Innovation is key to the success of McDonald’s. The

innovative, managed legal service solution offered by WTC has

improved governance and reduced

our exposure to legal risk.”– Greg Solomon:

Managing Director,

McDonald’s South Africa

From…“Buy a burger and win a TV”

To…“Buy a burger and stand a chance

to win”