The Arch Deluxe was a hamburger created and marketed by McDonald's with the intent of capturing the adult fast food consumer market, presented as a more sophisticated burger for an adult palate. It failed to catch on and is seen as one of the most expensive flops of all time.
Product description The Arch Deluxe was a quarter pound of beef, on a split-top potato flour sesame seed bun topped with a circular piece of peppered bacon, leaf lettuce, tomato, American cheese, onions, ketchup, and a "secret" mustard and mayonnaise sauce. It was seen by some consumer groups as a huge step back after more nutritional offerings such as the "McLean" reduced-fat burger (which also failed).
Variants
- Despite failing nearly a decade prior in North America, McDonald's Japan introduced in 2003 a nearly identical sandwich (sans the peppered bacon) called the Tomato McGrand. It has since been discontinued.
- McDeluxe" is the French naming of this product.
- In Australia, the McFeast Deluxe has similar ingredients. It contains: ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, lettuce, pickles, onions, tomato, cheese, a quarter pound of beef, and (optionally) bacon.
HistoryIn response to the demographic trend of longer lifespans and an expanding older market, McDonald's made a conscious decision to attempt to market its food to a more adult audience. Rather than compromise its existing brand images, the company decided to create a new line of burgers with more sophisticated ingredients. It commissioned Executive Chef Andrew Selvaggio to create the Deluxe line of burgers including the Fish Filet Deluxe, Grilled Chicken Deluxe, Crispy Chicken Deluxe and the flagship Arch Deluxe.
The Arch Deluxe was released in early 1996 in one of the most expensive advertising campaigns to date. However, customers were turned off by the high price and unconventional ads, and consumer groups were upset by the higher caloric content. The brand was gradually discontinued, and is no longer found at McDonald's stores today.
Some sandwiches that were created as part of the Deluxe line were kept: The Grilled Chicken Deluxe was rebranded the Chicken McGrill, and the Crispy Chicken Deluxe became the Crispy Chicken. Both sandwiches led to the development of the current Premium Chicken sandwiches; the Classic is thus a direct continuation of the Deluxe chicken sandwich brands. The current McChicken Classic was the chicken sandwich before the Deluxe line was launched.
The 50 percent-larger fish fillet patty is also now used on the regular Filet-O-Fish.
It is estimated that McDonald's spent over $300 million on the research, production, and marketing for the Arch Deluxe. The company recently stated that some of its initial research into adult marketing was recycled in the recent development of its successful line of salad products.
AdvertisingMcDonald's hired Peter McElligott, an advertising mogul known for unconventional work, for its staggering $100 million ad campaign. Arch Deluxe ads were notable in that, unlike other fast-food ads, they did not really talk about the quality of the food. They primarily consisted of young children who would look at the seemingly complex burger and say "I don't get it", or "I don't understand what the big deal is." Some would even call the burger "yucky" and even complain that "you don't even get a toy with that!" This line of indirect rebel advertising was very similar to The Coca-Cola Company's marketing for OK Soda two years before, which was also a flop. Steve Burns, who would later host the Nickelodeon children's show Blue's Clues, performed the voice-over for at least one of the commercials in the series.
McDonald's widely distributed coupons allowing the purchase of the otherwise expensive Arch Deluxe for only $1.00.
When studies showed that its first set of advertising was unsuccessful, and was possibly even hurting its existing branding, it switched to a more conventional McDonald's-style commercial, featuring Ronald McDonald doing adult activities, such as playing golf and dancing at a night club.
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