Anti-branding isn’t a new concept, but its power has been heightened thanks to more consumers wanting to support local businesses and know where their food comes from. It’s a marketing concept that has been described as companies playing dress-up, hiding or at least minimising their multinational origins. By pretending to blend in with the local crowd, many brands hope to earn something that can’t be bought with marketing money: the "local" factor.
Alen Allday, a market analyst from IBISWorld, says McDonald’s is chasing after people who wouldn’t normally go to McDonald’s and prefer the likes of small operators such as Grill’d, Lord of the Fries and Urban Burger.
"A lot of cafes are hipster-ish and have that ‘cool’ feel to it, which is a natural trend at the moment," he says. "What McDonald’s has done is refurbished and furnished with cool fixtures and lighting and see how far they can take it."
(Source: The Sydney Morning Herald Online )