McDonald's, facing aggressive competition by quick-serve competitors including Burger King and Wendy's, needs more to crow about. It's been a tough year for the burger giant and a tough year for many of its customers. So what's the answer? Hint: It has wings, a beak, and a penchant for hot sauce.

Its new U.S. promotion — for Spicy McChicken Bites — is part of a global trend for the hamburger chain. Chicken may be flying to the rescue of a chain that withstood the headwinds of the Great Recession in pretty good shape but whose leadership senses more storm clouds building in the global economy. For McDonald's US CEO Don Thompson, offering more menu items based on chicken, compared with beef, poses "a tremendous opportunity," he said at a recent conference for analysts.

"Some great examples include our large wrap in Europe and snack items like Chicken McBites," which McDonald's introduced in the U.S. on a "limited-time basis" last year and which proved very popular, Thompson said. "Our customers have given us permission to stretch our brand, so we are entering new categories with new products," he said at the conference, according to Bloomberg.Continue reading...

Walmart's critics have beaten up on the company for a lot of things over the years — its environmental policies, the treatment of its female employees, corporate donations to conservative political groups. But now Walmart, apparently, has gone too far by advertising that it sells good steaks.

The chain was critiqued recently by a Phoenix-based blogger, for example, for "mak[ing] it appear" that diners of an upscale local restaurant, El Chorro, "were saying things about Walmart steaks like, 'It was one of the best filets I've ever had.'"

Such grilling aside, from Walmart's point of view, the marketing campaign to spread the work for its upgraded USDA Choice steaks has worked well. "It's been pretty amazing," Walmart CMO Stephen Quinn told Ad Age. "This one has really had a big impact so far."Continue reading...