The central train station at Warsaw, Poland is not different to any other train station, where People are waiting for delayed trains, sitting in different places hanging around senselessly. McDonalds, located close to that station, thought that it could do something out of this and planned and figured out an innovative way to make the passengers waiting for the train a little less agonizing. It has also made a way to little more profit for their train-side location. Yes! A new marketing strategy from McDonalds in cooperation with polish state railways lets the passengers know how long it would be until their respective trains arrive on the station platform. Now you may question what is so special with this Marketing strategy.? Even here in Indian railways we have got brands like haldirams and saravana bhavan who do such a kind of marketing. But there is something special about McDonalds’ Marketing strategy. Apart from real time information(departure time, destination, track number, train platform), the time table displays waiting/delayed time not in minutes or hours but in hamburgers, fries, coke and other menu items that you manage to eat before your train leaves.
It is more sort of ‘Hamburger timetable’ rather than train time table.
The longer you wait the more menu item show up on the screen.
As the time goes by the menu shrinks until there is just a coffee left.
While passengers check for the schedule of their train, they notice a hamburger, fries, coke & ice cream symbol and they knew they had plenty of time and started spend their time in McDonalds. When they only saw a cup of coffee they knew that their train is arriving shortly and end up with a coffee from McDonalds. Amazing Marketing strategy! Within the first month it attracted 4500 extra customers and the ‘Hamburger timetable’ is still receiving free publicity in Poland and abroad. The train station at Warsaw, Poland is no more a place to get bored instead it is more enjoyable place for waiting passengers. McDonalds have once again proved that Innovation is the blood of Marketing.
Have a look on the video of ‘Hamburger Timetable’ campaign below:
