By George Anderson
McDonald's believes changes it has made to its menu, restaurants and advertising has helped it move up on the public perception hip meter. Now, reports Ad Age, the company is looking to outfit its restaurant crews with uniforms so cool that everyone will be "lovin'" the new Mickey D's.
A spokesperson for McDonald's, Bill Whitman, said, "It's about taking the contemporary look and feel of our restaurants embodied in our advertising and incorporating that into our employees' business attire. The desire is to create uniforms that our crews would want to wear outside the restaurant environment."
The restaurant chain has not decided on a designer for its new look uniforms but among those mentioned as being considered for the job are Russell Simmons, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, American Eagle, A&F, and P. Diddy.
Marlena Peleo-Lazar, chief creative officer for McDonald's USA, is overseeing the project. The company, according to Ad Age, has hired Steve Soute, a former music executive and chief creative officer of Translation Consulting and Brand Imaging, to help it find the right designer for its new uniforms.
"It's very important to take [uniforms] from what they have to wear to what they want to wear," Mr. Stoute said. "It's a very important aspect of employee pride. McDonald's has evolved and become a lifestyle brand ... since it now is relevant to our lifestyle, let's go one step further and make its employees relevant to our lifestyle as well."
Allen Adamson, managing director at Landor, a branding and identity consulting company, said, "Employees are becoming more and more important every day in delivering a brand experience. How people feel about a company and brand directly affects their ability to deliver on the promise. Job One is to feel good about the company and Job Two is to understand the brand idea so they can deliver the brand and live its promise."
Moderator's Comment: What are your thoughts on McDonald's intention to redesign its uniforms? Do employee uniforms have a role to play in creating the brand experience for consumers?
We don't know if McD's uniform fashions will make it to the street but we know that uniforms can be a source of pride when they're associated with something cool. We always felt good about putting on our Hawaiian shirt when doing research working at Trader Joe's. - George Anderson - Moderator