McDonald’s answers questions, such as: Where can parents find a restaurant with playground and make their kids delighted?  Why kids enjoy so much and would like to collect McDonald’s toys and cards? Where can customers get a breakfast with coffee (plus refill) and newspaper, all at decent prices?  How do I get a quick lunch in my area before I drive on the highway? Where can people in our city buy their meals in drive-through after midnight?  Why McDonald’s is the “Best Place to Work for Minorities--according to Fortune Magazine 2005 (McDonald's, 2009 )? How Ronald McDonald Houses help seriously ill children and their families?  Superior brands are those that instantly think about when consumer has an issue to be worked out or a requisite to be implemented (Ferrell & Hartline, 2008).
       The question: Why is this effective brand?  McDonald’s is an effective brand as it gives what the customer is inquiring about and seeking out. It provides fast food, quick meals, or drive-through services and comfortable site (e.g., electronic fireplace) with relaxing and well-designed seats to customers on the run or continuously moving about.  It also offers families and their children a place to eat and play safely.  The brand name of McDonald’s is very easy to read and speak (e.g., it closes to children’s song: Old MacDonald had a farm), and the brand mark (or symbol, figure, and design) of McDonald’s-- such as: McDonald’s golden arches and the figure of Ronald McDonald—are  very well communicate the company brand and its representation and image without using spoken words—this is why McDonald’s not only the leading restaurant to eat and play for  kids in North America, but also the most favorable eating place for children in many countries in the world, including Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia/Pacific. In September of 2008, the company operated 960 restaurants in China since launched the first one in Shenzhen in 1990.  China is the top and fast growth market for McDonald’s that other than home market, and it will open 150 new locations in 2009 and 175 in 2010 across the nation (Liu, 2008).  McDonald’s is indeed an international restaurant, international brand (or global brand), and all the kids in the world and their parents that walk into the fast food chain share the same types of food, designs, playgrounds, games, toys, and ideas.  Whitelock and Fastoso (2007) analyze and argue, “International branding is a field within international marketing concerned with the challenges that companies face when their brands cross national borders. These challenges relate to the essence of the brand in terms of brand name, brand visual [e.g. logo, colors] and sound elements [e.g. jingles, music], and brand personality” (p. 266). In this case, McDonald’s not only is an effective local-brand in the United States and Canada, but also a successful international-brand in the world.

References
McDonald's corporation (McDonald's). (2009). McDonald's fact sheets. Retrieved January 15,      2009, from http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html
Liu, J. (2009).  McDonald’s growing in China. China Daily. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from
 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-09/08/content_7007412.htm
Whitelock, J., & Fastoso, F.  (2007). Understanding international branding: defining the domain and reviewing the literature. International Marketing Review, London, 24 (3), 252-270. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from ProQuest Database.

Ferrell, O.C., & Hartline, M. D. (2008). Marketing Strategy (4th edition). Mason, Ohio: Thompson South-Western.