McDonald’s underlines Masala Grill’s ‘pakka’ Indian flavour

McDonald's has added a new variant to its Indian menu card. The Masala Grill burger, billed as ‘Pakka Indian’ (absolutely Indian), is being promoted by an integrated campaign created by Leo Burnett, including four TVCs. The campaign will also be seen on OOH, digital, radio, and print.

The films highlight typical Indian behaviour when it comes to bargains, instalments and the like humorously, and relate them to the burger’s Indian flavour.

One of the films opens with a man bargaining with the McDonald’s staff while placing his order. He tries every stunt in the book to convince the boy at the counter to get a discount, but fails. He finally gives in and buys the burger nonetheless. Introducing the new Masala Grill burger, voice over says, “Grilled hai, masaledar hai, Indian hai” (It’s grilled, it’s spicy, it’s Indian).

A second film shows a couple walking into McDonald’s outlet and ordering a Masala Grill chicken burger. The wife reminds her husband that it’s Tuesday (a day many Indians eat only vegetarian food). The husband quickly corrects himself and asks if there is a vegetable masala grilled burger available. The couple is happy and relieved as they are served the vegetarian variant.

A third film shows a man enjoying his burger at a McDonald’s outlet. Another, seated next to him, points at the burger and asks him how much he got it for. The second guy pushes the bill to him. The first guy takes note, smiles, and says, “Muje bhi” (Me too).

The fourth film in the series shows a young boy and his father having a chat. The young boy wants to buy his friend Anaya a burger. The father offers to give him money for it, but the son refuses, saying Anaya wouldn’t like it at all. Almost instantly, he changes his mind, and accepts the offer. He says, “Teek hai. Abhi de do. Baad me main vapas kardoonga.” (Okay. Give it to me now, I’ll return it later). Asked how we will return the money, he says he will do so in small instalments.

Rameet Arora, senior direct marketing and menu management, Hardcastle Restaurants, said, “The campaign acknowledges and celebrates the colourful life that Indians typically lead. Right from our inherent habit of looking for value in every bargain to our competitive spirit , it captures the elements that make us truly Indian.The communication has been crafted to create an instant connect between the product and the consumers. It attempts to actively engage customers to reach out to what they believe is Pakka Indian.”

Credits

Agency: Leo Burnett, Mumbai

ECD: Kapil Sawant

CD: Rajneesh Ramakrishnan

Writers: Kapil Sawant, Rajneesh Ramakrishnan & Manish Patel

Agency Producers: Kevin Affonso & Manoj Pillai

Account Management: Anup Vishwanathan, Rajiv Wadhwa, Carl George & Vaibhav Bist

Production house: Chrome Pictures

Director: Hemant Bhandari

Producer: Prafull Sharma and Shaun

Cinematographer: Anay Goswamy

Chief AD: Vijay Veermal

Production manager: Mishra ji

Casting: Vijay Veermal

Project co-ordinator: Daniel Amanna

Offline: Dev Jadhav

Online: Sunil

Music director: Rohan and Vinayak