After several months of testing in Australia and Detroit (those two usually go together), McDonald's has announced plans to introduce a popcorn chicken-style entree called Chicken McBites in January 2012 for a limited-time promotion.
AdAge linked to an internal memo about the new product. The language is pretty shocking and revealing about what happens inside large fast food corporations. The number of grammatical errors is unbelievable. "McDonald Chicken vision is 'To be the restaurant that consumers Choose First for Chicken anytime, anywhere.' In January 2012 we will begin phase 2 of the chicken strategy toward becoming a credible destination for chicken. One of our key areas of opportunity is to mitigate the switching behavior consumers are displaying within the category. We will address this opportunity by focusing on the snacking eating occasion and a promotional food event that provides news and extends the quality perceptions of chicken portfolio." [sic, for the whole thing]
Packages will vary in size between 4,6 and 12 ounces and will be accompanied with a variety of dipping sauces. Chicken McBites will range in price from $1.99 to $4.99.
BurgerBusiness looks at the various new chicken competition on the market for McDonald's: "Checkers/Rally’s rolls out Chicken Bites, KFC puts heavy ad support behind its Popcorn Chicken, Burger King reformulates its Chicken Tenders, Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. add Hand-Breaded Chicken Fillets and so on. McDonald’s wants all that business."
If the promotion had not been confirmed by a conference call, one would seriously doubt the legitimacy of that memo. Come on, does McDonald's typically circulate internal documents that are so poorly written?
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