Recently I saw that after a 7-year hiatus, McDonald’s is bringing back their infamous “McRib” sandwich.
If you’re not familiar with it, it’s basically a pork sandwich with onions, pickles and barbeque sauce.
Back when my stomach allowed me to eat the McRib, I was never a big fan of it.
I didn’t get the hype.
It wasn’t better than a Big Mac…
Or a quarter pounder…
Or even chicken nuggets…
So I never ordered it.
However, the McRib has a cult-like following.
I remember in college, my buddy Quez had a countdown timer on his wall that counted down the days until the McRib came back.
Honestly.
This is both hilarious and depressing (for him).
However it also shows the brilliant marketing behind the McRib.
And while we can debate all day whether the McRib is a good sandwich or not…
The marketing is on point.
And here’s why…
If the McRib was a normal, everyday item on McDonald’s menu nobody would talk about it.
It’d blend right in.
Nobody would be excited about it.
And frankly it probably wouldn’t even stay on the menu, cause I can’t imagine it would be popular year-round.
And McDonald’s knows this.
So what do they do?
They only make the McRib available for a few weeks out of the year.
I have a hunch that December/January is probably not great for fast food restaurants…
So launching the McRib now is smart.
It’s a new item that gets people in the door.
It puts McDonald’s on people’s minds.
And prolly gives them a nice revenue boost.
But the big thing to take away here is the power of scarcity.
That’s what this is about.
Cialdini talked about it non-stop in his book Influence.
The more scarce something is, the more people want it.
Why?
Cause it makes it exclusive…
It makes it limited…
You feel like you won the lottery…
Or that you won something special when you get something that is limited.
That’s the power of scarcity.
And even though it’s been used for hundreds of years…
People are still persuaded by it.
We can’t help it.
We want things that other people can’t get.
Keep that in mind.
That’s all I got for today…
I’m gonna go enjoy the sun here in a bit.
Enjoy your day.
– Justin
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