By Elaine Wong (elaine.wong@brandweek.com)
McDonald's this week is bringing back the McRib and has partnered with Myxer, a hyper-targeting ad service, to market the seasonal pork sandwich to mobile phone users.
A promotion for the McRib, which has been offered by the restaurant chain for limited periods since the 1980s, will run regionally through January in cities including Dallas, Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City and Durham, N.C. McDonald's is spreading the word via ads that invite consumers to text the word "MCRIB" to 69937 to get free mobile content, such as ringtones and wallpapers touting the McRib. Moroch, Dallas, handles the regional account and reached out to Myxer for the mobile platform.
Unlike traditional media like TV or print, the promotion targets consumers ages 18-34. Myxer's Bullseye platform allows McDonald's to narrow the demographic down by gender, age, music genre and mobile preferences. As the platform is entirely mobile, 65% of visitors to the site are between the ages of 15 and 28, said Myxer's vp-marketing Steve Spiro.
"With mobile, the audience demographic tends to skew younger," said Spiro, adding that Moroch tapped the company because they "liked the concept of being able to take their brand with them."
Shawn Gurn, new media director at Moroch, said the McRib sandwich was chosen for the campaign because "it has a cult following." In November 2005, the chain kicked off a viral marketing ploy by announcing that the McRib would be removed from the menu. The sandwich went through two subsequent "farewell tours" and is currently sold in select states. Gurn said the company was trying to leverage this "farewell" buzz in the latest marketing effort.
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