McDonalds plans to respond to falling sales with "more focus on lovin'"

McDonalds has been having a rough year, with slumping sales and Shake Shack getting ready for its IPO, but Maureen Morrison reports that the chain has a plan to stay on top — more lovin'

The chain is instead "reigniting" the "I'm lovin' it" theme "by introducing a new platform that puts more focus on lovin'," said the company in a statement. The messaging will focus more on positivity "with more uplifting content and conversations in the lovin' spirit.

Ad Age first reported the brand campaign after Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett won a pitch for ideas to refresh the brand. "I'm lovin' it" was not expected to be jettisoned, but rather to be evolved.

This strikes me as fundamentally unlikely to work. McDonalds' big problem isn't with the slogan, it's that people have figured out ways to serve better-than-McDonalds food at scale in a fast food setting and Americans have the discretionary income to afford the somewhat higher prices this entails.

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