Trump gets a good score, but not so good as the man who walks

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 23, 2002 by Gregg Cebrzynski

Remember Donald Trump? That is, remember Donald Trump in the TV spot for McDonald's Big 'N Tasty burger?

A lot of TV viewers remembered him so well that the spot, which was the first for McDonald's new dollar menu, was the fifth most popular restaurant ad between Sept. 16 and Dec. 7.

That ranking comes from Intermedia Advertising Group of New York, which measures consumer recall of new ads within 24 hours after the ads have aired on six broadcast networks: ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, WB and UPN. The ads are assigned a recall score, which is indexed against the mean score for all new ads in a category. In our case the categories are quick-service and casual-dining ads. The average score is 100. A score of 200 would mean that an ad is twice as effective as the average restaurant ad breaking since the start of the new TV season. The 30-second Trump ad received a recall score of 170.

It happens that the spot was the most frequently advertised restaurant ad during the time period mentioned above. So why didn't it rank No. 1? According to Intermedia, frequency helps consumers recall an ad, but not always.

The spot that consumers recalled most often during the time period was that well-done ad for Taco Bell's Fajita Grilled Stuft Burrito, which I wrote about in my Dec. 9 column. My description of it was tremendously verbose compared with the way Intermedia summarized it on a grid listing the top 10 restaurant ads: "Man walks, people say, 'Oooh.'"

The spot received a score of 182, and it deserved every point.

Two ads for, KFC were ranked second and third. They were 15- and 30-second versions of spokesman Jason Alexander touting holiday values.

But here's the deal about recall: It doesn't necessarily translate into sales. Yum! Brands Inc., which owns both Taco Bell and KFC, reported that, same-store sales for the four weeks ended Nov. 30 rose 6 percent at Taco Bell and declined 4 percent at KFC.

Ranking No.4 on the top 10 list was the 15-second version of the Trump ad. The sixth through 10th spots, respectively, belong to Burger King, which took both sixth and seventh place, Taco Bell, Subway and KFC.

Something's missing. Oh, yeah, advertising by the casual-dining chains. Intermedia measured the recall of 100 ads during the time period, and nearly 25 percent of the ads were for casual-dining chains. Not one ranked in the top 10 because casual-dining chains don't buy as much network media as quick-service restaurants do.

Because the fast feeders spend more, their ads are recalled, on average, 11 percent more often than the casual-dining chains, according to Intermedia. The top-performing casual-dining ad was for Outback Steakhouse, and it took the No. 12 spot.

I'm not surprised by the ads that made the top-10 list, with the exception of the Trump ad. More people recalled it than did the McDonald's dollar-menu spots featuring Venus and Serena Williams and Cedric the Entertainer.

I am surprised that not a single ad for Wendy's made the top 10, and I'm disappointed that I never saw the Burger King spot that captured the seventh spot. Intermedia describes it thusly: "Drive-through menu in elevator, flirts w/ three woman."

Intermedia measures the likability of ads as well as recall. Among advertisers in all categories, McDonald's spot for Ronald McDonald House -- one of the chain's World Children's Day ads -- ranked No. 1 for the period ending Nov. 24.

It would be nice if consumers liked McDonald's as much as they liked its advertising, because McDonald's is not doing so well now selling burgers and fries, as I recall.