McDonald's is Going Green - At Least in Germany

Spiegel Online is reporting that McDonald's will change the sign colors on its German restaurants. The mustard yellow arches on a bright red background will change to yellow on green. The idea is to reposition the burger chain as an environmentally responsible company.

While it may not convince many vegetarians, the company is working hard to change its image. The new restaurants will feature wood and stone facades, a radical departure from the garish Mickey-D's we see here in the states. McDonald's has already been moving in a more enviro-senstive direction with the introduction of its recycled napkins and packaging. They have even taken measures to save the hedgehogs.

The savvy marketing types at McDonald's have seen the future and they plan to be part of it. I hope they recognize that their American customers would welcome those same changes here that they are implementing in Germany.

   

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Gold Line Provides Successful Getaway

It looks like public transportation is finally getting a foothold in car-addicted Los Angeles. The L.A. Times reported this morning that two robbers who swiped a cell phone made their getaway on the Gold Line, the new Eastside leg of the Los Angeles rail system. The theft took place in a restaurant at Central Avenue and 2nd Street. From there, the thieves fled toward the Little Tokyo/Arts District where they boarded the Gold Line train heading for Union Station. They apparently made a clean getaway.  If the trains are reliable enough for robbery getaways, they can probably get people to work and back -  no problem.

In an unrelated story in this morning's Times, the City of Claremont has suspended its recently launched trolley service for lack of riders. I guess there will be no quick getaways in Claremont!

Is "www" Still Needed for Printed Stationery?

Recently, we have had some customers request that the "www" part of their web site be omitted when printing up their business cards or letterhead. The assumption is that having ".com" or ".net" or ".org" at the end clearly indicates that this is a web site and therefore the "www" is not needed.

There are two schools of thought on this. One says that the "www" is unnecessary, and redundant, like putting the word "phone" in front of the phone number. People of this mind say everyone knows what it is and the extra letters are graphic clutter. The opposite view says that there are still some people who won't recognize it as a web site without the "www." If you are only marketing to the young and savvy, they say, no problem. But if your target market is broader than that, you still need to add the "www" to insure that the web address is recognized as a web address.

What do you think?