Your Food, Their Answers

In the past few months McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have launched forward-thinking campaigns aimed at tackling the nutrition and quality of their products.

McDonald’s Our Food. Your Questions campaign promises to answer any question about the company’s food. Questions range from the fairly innocuous “Does your Egg McMuffin use real eggs? They look too perfect” to the more ominous “How is it that a McDonald’s burger does not rot?”

Often, the answer simply dispels a myth, such as why McDonald’s uses MSG (spoiler alert: they don’t), while other answers take the curtain rising even further with videos addressing questions like why a hamburger looks different in ads than in stores. That video has more than 8 million views.

Our Food. Your Questions takes its All Access Moms campaign to a deeper level of transparency by putting moms in front of issues such as obesity, nutrition, and the environment.

Marketers should always strive to be proactive on the issues that affect their business. By confronting a challenge rather than letting it come to you, you can bring your strongest strategy to the forefront. After all, who needs crisis communications when you have a million-viewer-strong, consumer-facing campaign?

Coca-Cola has taken a similar approach with its first ever obesity discussion and acknowledgement that soda contributes to weight gain. “We have not done a good enough job in telling our story and being consistent in telling our story,” said Coca-Cola spokeswoman Diana Garza Ciarlante. You can check out the video on YouTube.

How will you tell your brand’s story in a way that is consistent and transparent? “A brand’s story can convey its message, build credibility, establish a vision, motivate buyers and build lasting customer loyalty,” says Scott Steinberg,  an expert on leadership and innovation, and the head of strategic consultancy TechSavvy Global. Check out Steinberg’s How To on executing your brand’s story online.

Update: On April 23 2013, Coca-Cola Canada debuted a “new” commercial and campaign to underscore its commitment to balanced, active living. It also announced a five-year continuation of its relationship with ParticipACTION programs and a $5-million commitment.

*Note: The Canadian version includes portions of earlier Coming Together ad