Editor’s Note: Flora Nicholas is the Chief Executive Officer of Brainwave, Inc., and the author of many great posts on the Mad Woman Blog. The following post is from her blog and is reposted with permission.

I have to confess that I know a thing or two about McDonald’s. It’s one of the brands that I’ve worked on in the course of my career, so I therefore understand the McStrategy, the McMessaging and the McGoal of the advertising. And I also understand McDonald’s consumers — the guys and gals who go out of their way daily to literally consume any combination of McDonald’s fast food that they can get their hands on.

However, even I was surprised by the lengths that one guy went to in order to eat a Golden Arches breakfast recently. It all unfolded last Monday morning outside the McDonald’s near our office in the suburbs of D.C.

There in the drive-through line, alongside the Toyotas, Fords, Hondas and Chryslers was, well, er, um, a hearse. As in…A HEARSE! There was an undertaker at the wheel who was obviously a die-hard McDonald’s fan, and a coffin in the back with an expired, probably former McDonald’s consumer, inside it.

As onlookers watched in amazement, the hearse crawled through the drive-through line at a very slow, funereal speed of course. And it soon became clear that the undertaker was on his own journey to meet his maker — the maker of a McDonald’s Extra Value Breakfast!

In true keeping with the solemnity of the situation, the undertaker ordered a full body of McDonald’s products — including what appeared to be a Sausage and Egg McMuffin and a coffee to go. (He already had a “coffin to go” in his possession but we won’t dwell on that any further at this point.)

The undertaker then paid for his breakfast quietly and graciously, and drove carefully out of the parking lot and back out onto the road as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

Luckily for me, and everyone out there who loves black humor, Brainwave’s very own Paul Gayter was on hand with his trusty iPhone to record everything for posterity. So you can view this whole, hysterical “I’m an undertaker and I’m loving it” episode by watching the video in, pardon the pun, the dead center of this page. It provides conclusive proof that consumers love McDonalds products and will go well out of their way to devour them — even if it means taking a detour on the way to a funeral parlor, a cemetery, or hey, even the morgue!

Now, I believe that it’s my job as marketer to pass on new consumer insights to companies as I see them. So I am planning to contact McDonald’s and advise them to introduce a range of fast foods aimed specifically at undertakers — Die-t Cokes, Ash Browns and Southern Style Chicken-in-a-Casket all come easily to mind. It could be big, big business, and I will of course let you know how they respond.

In the meantime, I think it’s safe to conclude that, even in the gravest situations, undertakers really do dig McDonald’s.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The first one is a myspace ad with typos and a free or stolen image that was used which still had the original owner’s watermark! Horrible!

This next one is a McDonalds billboard that reads “My Ass” opens at 6am!!

Regarding the banner ad for myspace above: The way the copy is written you get the jist of their message, but it is confusing to read. Even the bullet points are somewhat vague and fail to create value or have a call to action. The headline is ok and it makes you want to read on, but there is no follow through. Why should anyone care to read the ad? Compare that ad’s copy to the way one of our copy writers would have done it:

Headline:
You Won’t Pay Too Much for Health Insurance Again.

Body:
At Premium Insurance Quotes we are serious about saving you money.
We compare the qualified brokers in your area and find the best brokers with the best deals.
People just like you are saving up to 47% on their insurance bills everyday.
It’s easy to stop paying over-priced premiums!

Base line:
Just call or click here now to get more information and a free quote!

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