New Hamburglar fails at lifting burger sales for McD's

The Hamburglar was brought back into marketing to promote McDonald's sirloin burgers but the menu item failed to meet sales goals. Photo / McDonalds

While he was a sensation on social media, the new Hamburglar didn't succeed at his main job: promoting McDonald's sirloin burgers.

The menu item added earlier this year failed to meet sales goals, even with a big marketing push from the reimagined Hamburglar mascot in May. The limited-time item expired this summer, and restaurants are phasing them out.

"Our sirloin burger didn't meet our expectations," said Lisa McComb, a spokeswoman for Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's. "However, this sandwich represents action steps the US has taken to enhance food-quality perceptions. Seventy-six per cent of customers who tried the sirloin burger said their opinion of McDonald's beef improved."

When McDonald's brought back the Hamburglar earlier this year, the character morphed from a cartoonish bandit into a hipster dad with stubble. He caused a sensation on Twitter and Facebook, with social-media users debating his attractiveness and sartorial choices (in addition to a Zorro-style mask, he wears a burger tie, trench coat and black-and-white striped prison garb).

But the point of the ads was to push the third-pound sirloin burgers.

"This is why I'm back," the Hamburglar said in one of the commercials.

The promotion was part of an effort to show that McDonald's low-priced food can still be high-quality. Along with touting the sirloin hamburgers, McDonald's has advertised artisan chicken sandwiches and tested items such as kale in some markets. It also rolled out a "Summer Break Menu" with options such as a double cheeseburger and small fries for $2.50.

So far, nothing has pulled the company out of its slump. McDonald's said last month that US same-store sales dropped 2 per cent in the second quarter, the seventh straight decline.

The good news: McDonald's has been seeing better results this quarter, Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook said on a conference call in July.

"We are seeing early signs of momentum," he said.

- Bloomberg