Last month McDonald’s held its first investor day since 2023. One slide showed a drive-thru menu board. Half of it was a Geico ad.
That’s the McDonald’s Media Network. The company is testing ads from other brands in 450 of its own US restaurants. Right now they appear on the drive-thru menu board after you order. The plan is to put them in the app and on the kiosks too. The goal is a billion-dollar business.
I understand the temptation. The screens are already there. The customers are already there. An ad costs almost nothing to run. And a billion dollars is nothing to sneeze at.
What I can’t get past is how they explained it.
