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SCMP Reporter

As it was for me 20 years ago, McDonald's is the stuff of dreams for kids - fast food that won't quickly drain  meagre pocket money.

In a bid to expand its penetration of  the teenage and young adult market, McDonald's has signed a partnership deal with Viacom's music channel, MTV.

They will jointly promote the second season of MTV Advance Warning, a 12-episode, 30-minute monthly programme  that presents up-and-coming talent to 400 million homes in 162 countries.

'We and McDonald's have the same targeted audience,'  an MTV spokeswoman in Hong Kong said. 'We believe we can use music to connect to McDonald's customers.'

The show, aired previously  only in the United States and highlighting Joss Stone, Kanye West and Franz Ferdinand, will go to air  on Hong Kong's two pay-television channels later this month in  a US-Asia edition.

Asian heartthrob Wang Leehom would host a few episodes of the show, the spokeswoman said. 'We are in discussions with local marketing teams to offer more off-air promotions with McDonald's.' Stay tuned.

anti-us Image problems

Just like those MTV performers, McDonald's is image-conscious and keen to fend off attacks from those espousing the virtues of healthy eating.

It was back in the firing line recently in Super Size Me, in which film-maker Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but meals from the Golden Arches for a month to highlight the health repercussions  of a fast-food diet.

Now the company, which has  footprints in 119 countries, has come  second on a boycott list of 35 international names, according to a poll of 3,400 consumers by market research house GMI.

About 29 per cent of those  polled cited McDonald's as a brand they boycott, following Marlboro cigarettes, at 42 per cent.

Both  companies were also among the top brands identified as being extremely American.  Coca-Cola was  perceived as the most extremely  US company at 77 per cent, but only 20 per cent said that they would avoid buying Coke products, with the highest resistance coming from Europe - Britain at 28 per cent and France at 27 per cent.

'Anti-Americanism is most prevalent in Europe because of the Nato alliance,' the study said. 'Most Europeans see their economies as highly dependent on the US, so anything the US does to threaten America's prosperity and popularity feels proximate to Europeans.'

Meanwhile, GMI also  revealed that major American firms - notably Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Microsoft - saw their image improve with their support for tsunami victims.

In a poll of 20,000 consumers one week after the tsunami, 61 per cent reported an improved image of Coca-Cola after the soft-drink giant provided bottled drinking water, basic foodstuffs and medical supplies.

Starbucks, which initially contributed US$100,000 to international relief organisations, was looked upon more favourably by 51 per cent of respondents.

An initial donation of US$3 million by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation  led to 50 per cent of the respondents  painting an improved image of Microsoft. More encouragingly, 39 per cent indicated they would consider purchasing more  products from Coca-Cola in the future, 32 per cent might frequent  Starbucks more often and 37 per cent might buy more from Microsoft.

Making public donations pays dividends, it seems.

A million and out on top

David Hanger, 60-year-old publisher of the Economist who has spent 37 years with the magazine, retires next month with a strong sense of achievement.

The Economist's global circulation exceeded one million for the first time last year, including more than 500,000 copies per week in North America, 150,000 in Britain, 200,000 in continental Europe and nearly 110,000 in Asia-Pacific.

The magazine says its readers have an average annual income of US$154,000 and 44 per cent are company directors.

Mr Hanger, who joined the company in 1968 when the circulation was 97,879, was  appointed publisher in 1997, when circulation was 630,021.

mining the media

Hill & Knowlton,  a public relations agency owned by the WPP Group, has announced a global partnership with online search service provider Factiva to provide media text mining and visualisation tools. They will launch a new product  that summarises, categorises and highlights media trends and issues, generating strategic communications information in a graphical and usable format.

Hill & Knowlton will act as a sales agent for the product.



MTV homes in on McDonald's generation with partnership deal