McDonald’s Case Study on “Creating a New Language of Nutrition” Covers Cultural Analysis for Nutrition Icons Used in Over 109 Locales

Boulder, CO, September 18, 2007 --(PR.com)-- “We have essentially created a new visual language of nutrition,” commented Bridget Coffing, Vice President of Corporate Communications for McDonald’s. “At the beginning of the project we discovered that there were no ‘language free’ nutrient visuals that could be copied or modified.” Achieving self-evident images was also a critical goal. “Some countries served by McDonald’s encompass up to ten languages,” she continues, “so it was essential that the images work with or without text.” McDonald’s had to determine whether an international audience could understand the images without accompanying text.

After an extensive search for a linguistic partner, McDonald’s chose ENLASO. “This project was virtually without precedent due to its scope and ‘language-free’ nature,” states Yves Lang, ENLASO’s Chief Sales Officer and Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The case study reveals McDonald’s intense commitment to reaching all of their consumers worldwide; even Fiji, Malta and Slovakia were tested.” Over a dozen icons were evaluated against eight criteria in 109 locales, and over 13,000 comments had to be evaluated. The image-dependent, highly subjective feedback from iconographers required the data to be manually distilled. The case study covers these project management challenges and their solutions.

Feedback from iconographers was often surprising and sometimes even amusing. An image of a bone to represent calcium was rejected due to its regional association with dogs, while a simple abstract image of a four-leaved plant, symbolizing fiber, was interpreted as everything from a Christmas tree to Marijuana!

Case study author, Maxwell Hoffmann, was impressed by the synergy between McDonald’s and ENLASO. “All of the McDonald’s and ENLASO staff I interviewed were enthusiastically committed to a single goal: to educate customers globally on nutrition in a totally visual way.” The nutritional icons will prove their worth on a broad playing field: McDonald’s serves over 50 million people a day worldwide.

McDonald’s began rolling out the new icons on packaging in several worldwide markets last year, including the USA. The next time you order a Big Mac, take a look at the bottom of the carton and notice the new icons for Calories, Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates and Sodium. This free case study, with rejected and accepted versions of the icons, can be downloaded from ENLASO’s Web site, translate com

About McDonald’s
McDonald's is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 30,000 local restaurants in more than 100 countries. More than 70% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and women.

About ENLASO Corporation
ENLASO Corporation, an ISO 9001 company with nearly forty years of experience, delivers multilingual solutions to the life sciences, medical, pharmaceutical, biotech, IT, legal, financial, gaming, social networking, aerospace, automotive, advertising, and telecommunications industries. Services include localization of software, Web sites, marketing communications, technical documentation, localization testing, and consulting and training.

Chris Raulf
Marketing Manager
ENLASO Corporation
4888 Pearl East Circle, 300E
Boulder, CO 80301
T: 303 516 0857 x103 * F: 303 516 1701

ENLASO Corporation provides quality enterprise language solutions and exceeds client expectations through continuing research, development, and implementation of effective localization processes and technologies.

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