I know we’ve all heard the advertising line of “I’m a mac” and “I’m a PC” and I understand that some of our clients don’t really understand what that means. So, I’ve just found a perfect tounge in cheek illustration of what this may mean in a different way, and it’s happening right here in town!

We have an office on the main street of Woonona, directly opposite a corner block that is occupied by the famous golden arches. They have pretty much picked up the plum spot in town, it’s a big block, right in the heart of town, there is plenty of through traffic, it’s next to an intersection and there is ample parking. It ticks all the boxes from a marketing perspective.

Hey! I just realised something… McDonalds is a PC!

Let me explain what I mean, here we have this big hamburger chain sitting in the middle of town that has been there so long, it feels like it’s part of the furniture. They have very little, if any competition in town so McDonalds with it’s cheap plastic furniture, unenthusiastic staff and wilted lettuce has the monopoly on the burger market in our town.

What I’ve discovered is that just like Microsoft, we as a community have either willingly or not accepted these crappy little things that McDonalds makes us deal with. A fine example of the little pains that plague Microsoft are the equivalent of the crappy little pickles McDonalds put in their burgers. No one likes them, but we’ve just learnt to shrug our shoulders, pick them out and move on.

Like the PC, McDonalds plays on people’s perception of “this is just how it is” and they accept that. This is a major factor in why they are still a success right now. They may not necessarily have the best product but they’re in your face, cheap, easy and are so ingrained in our culture that we still buy from them.

McDonalds menu is not unlike the windows operating system. Microsoft has just released windows 7, which like McDonald’s menu is more reactive than proactive.

For years, the public was looking for a healthy alternative, that was ignored by Maccas, who pushed their greasy fast-food to the ever-expanding nation. This seems to be the same game that the PC has played with it’s past iterations of the windows platform. Both McDonalds and Microsoft have been playing catch-up with what the people really want, and although they do try, “reactive” seems to be the word that comes to mind.

So recently, a new restaurant moved into town, it’s hip, funky, serves beer and is located down an alley off the main drag. This may very well be the Apple Mac of burger places in our town. While @sherod can probably shed more light on this, I feel that “Gone Burgers” is what an Apple Mac would be if it were a burger restaurant. We have found the Apple Mac in our town, but it’s not the one that has the “Big Mac” on the menu.

It’s a bit off the beaten track, but not hard to find for people who are looking for something different, it is all shiny and aluminium, there’s a really funky paint job and decor and they offer things that McDonalds don’t. Gone Burgers also has an alcohol license! While the burgers may be a little bit more expensive, the quality of the product along with the dining experience is better than any mass-produced, personality-less, pickle-infested burger washed down with post-mixed Coke.

What I love about my Apple Mac is that it does things I never even thought I might want to do until I find myself in a situation where I realise that my computer already does that!

Using the burger joint metaphor, if I go in for a burger and think I might want a coke with it that’s fair enough, pretty standard, McDonalds covers that. But there is a chance I might want to make more of a meal of it and have a beer or wine with my burger but I didn’t even realise that, but hey, “Gone Burgers” have thought of it already and I’m happy that the option is there should I want to improve my overall experience.

Café Browsers

I suppose then, if McDonalds is a PC, then McCafe is the equivalent of the Internet Explorer web browser. Just like “the big blue E” comes with windows, McCafe is the coffee shop that ships with McDonalds. Don’t mind that the coffee is sub-par, the cakes are overpriced and the experience is somewhat underwhelming.

Do yourself a favour, if you haven’t already, have a look at the options for web browsing like Firefox, Safari or Google’s Chrome. You’d be surprised how much better they are than IE. It’s like taking a walk down the road from McDonalds to the local cafe where you’ll be presented with a better product, better experience and more bang for less buck.

So there, you have it, go out and find the Apple Mac, Firefox, Safari, Chrome in your neighbourhood and taste/experience the difference. I’m sure you’ll uncover some gems in your town.

Remember, just because it’s in your face, doesn’t mean that it’s the best at what it does, there’s always an alternative.