McDonald’s rolls out new design direction

McDonald’s rolls out new design direction

SYDNEY: McDonald’s has undergone well-publicised changes over the last year in order to keep up with the fiercely competitive fast food industry and changing consumer demands.

Along with acknowledging the needs of a more health conscious society by updating its menu, the company has also recognised the role of its retail design in updating consumer perception. Indeed, McDonald’s Australia recently enlisted Juicy Design to give its stores a new lease of life that reflected the unique aspects of each store’s environment and space. Several European countries have taken Australia’s lead.

“Our desire was to design restaurant spaces that reflected their surroundings and the people that use them, creating contemporary dining spaces,” says Juicy Design design director, Tom Williams. “It’s about contemporising the look of McDonald’s outlets. It is not about one look, but developing a style for each site that reflects the individual environment and location.”

McDonald’s Strand location, on George Street in Sydney, is an example of how this is being achieved. The location was once a bank and the previous standard retail fit out had hidden the building’s original features. These were exposed, repaired and repainted.

While luxury was not previously a term associated with the hamburger giant, Williams says the Strand fit out reflects the elegance of the newly uncovered space. One of the key products used to reproduce the original ambience is intricately patterned customer wallpaper, specified through Flash Photobition. The use of the wallpaper reflects not only the desire to reproduce the original look and feel of the historic space, but also the modern resurgence of wallpaper as a branding tool.

Through a simple but innovative process, the custom wallpaper was produced straight from a digital file, allowing the design to be developed specifically for the McDonald’s Strand space.

The partnership between Juicy Design and McDonald’s Australia is set to continue. Stores completed so far include McDonald’s Pitt and Park, which was totally redesigned to open out to the street, greatly improving the level of interaction between inside and outside.

Juicy Design was also responsible for the Westfield Bondi Junction outlet, which was designed from scratch to reflect the relaxed and funky contemporary feel of the new retail hub.

New scheme to ambush shoppers

LONDON: High street shoppers are to face a new high-tech challenge. In addition to dodging their way around leaflet distributors, petitioners and charity collectors, they will now have to face street marketing teams attempting to download promotional material to their mobile phones.

The new marketing technique will see teams of promotional staff given special sashes containing microchips that beam information to the mobile phones of passers-by. The downloads, sent to them wirelessly, could take the form of electronic money-off vouchers, competition entries or simply the phone number and website address of the company in question.

Hypertag, the company behind the idea, says that advertisers are constantly looking for new ways to influence potential customers, particularly hard to reach demographics such as teenagers and young professionals. However, just how these consumers will react to the new strategy remains to be seen.

Hypertag already produces a version of the technology that can be placed in posters on billboards and bus shelters. Interested passers-by are required to activate the infrared or bluetooth capabilities included on most modern mobile phones when in the vicinity of the advert to receive the information.

the Top 10 net scams for 2005

NEW YORK: 2004 was a very big year for internet scams, but most experts agree that 2005 will be even bigger. Internet ScamBusters, an online clearing house for information about internet scams, has just released a ‘Top 10’ list of predictions for the biggest online threats in 2005.

“The list contains a couple of worrying surprises, including number five, more personal and targeted attacks, and number seven, new threats to mobile devices,” says Dr Audri Lanford, co-editor of Internet ScamBusters. “In addition, number two on the list is more sophisticated ‘phishing’ scams, a class of scam that did not even exist two years ago.”

The Top 10 List of the Worst Internet Scams for 2005 is:

1. Bigger identity theft problems

2. More sophisticated phishing scams

3. New spyware threats

4. New, more dangerous viruses, worms, and Trojans

5. More personal and targeted attacks

6. New lottery scams

7. New threats to mobile devices

8. Sale of vehicles on auction sites and elsewhere

9. New, more creative variants of the ‘Nigerian’ scam

10. New job posting threats.

StrataPay solution a boon for charity

BRISBANE: Queensland-based StrataPay has secured the contract to provide an automated ‘payroll giving’ system to Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) Australia. The solution will reduce CAF’s administrative costs, enabling it to provide greater benefits to the charitable sector.

The StrataPay solution is being delivered to CAF with no capital outlay required. By outsourcing the process of collecting and reconciling donations and disbursing grants CAF will be able to refocus on its core services, bringing donors and the community sector together for mutual benefit.

“For the charitable sector, payroll giving ensures a more stable income stream, enabling it to plan for the future while significantly reducing administration costs, which can otherwise typically account for at least 25 percent of donations. The charitable sector is the ultimate beneficiary of this partnership,” says CAF Australia executive director, Duncan Power.

Australians embraced the concept of payroll giving following a ruling by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) a little over two years ago, allowing employees to make donations from their pre-tax earnings. Clients such as GCCC, Ernst & Young , AMP, several Queensland government departments, as well as small to medium-size businesses, are donating via the method.

With payroll giving donations employees receive an immediate tax benefit, rather than having to wait until the end of the financial year. According to StrataPay general manager, Steven Heaton, the automatic monthly deductions are a simple and effective way to support donors’ preferred causes.

“CAF programs have increased exponentially since 2002, with payroll giving being a great way for companies to encourage community involvement by their staff,” Power adds. “We are already seeing a huge increase in payroll giving programs in Australia and the StrataPay solution will enable CAF to maintain and enhance the delivery of these services.”

Retailers turn to high-tech

NEW YORK: Retailers are turning to technology in their battle to attract customers, with one large US supermarket chain about to roll out an ‘intelligent’ shopping trolley that will actually download shopping lists and warn customers with a flashing image when it passes a product on their list.

Meanwhile, shoppers at a national electronics store and home improvement chain who cannot find a salesperson will soon be able to walk up to an in-store computer, push a few buttons and get immediate help from someone at a call centre.

And not to be outdone, a German supermarket has just introduced a computer system that projects arrows onto the floor to direct customers to the products they want.

These are just a few of the retail innovations discussed at the annual convention of the US National Retail Federation, where executives were told that technology has emerged as a key to increasing market share in the ultra competitive retail sector.

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