KFC - sharing is caring

KFC has got a campaign running, based on the concept of "for sharing" or in Arabic "tastier together" (which implies that not only the meal is shared but that there is a certain mix in the meal, which is misleading: there isn't). Still, it is interesting that fast food joints are running campaigns concurrently (see Pizza Hut and McDonald's). Granted, each has their own reason but their presence all together on the market seems to indicate that the market is thriving and doing well. Please note, I rarely go out to begin with, and much less to fast food joints - so yes, maybe they are all doing brisk business. But all signs point to a market that has collapsed at this point.

McDonald's becomes "my burger" in Russia. Logo/name unveiled. (UPDATE)

So here you go: McDonald's no more.

After opening to exceptional fanfare in 1990 in Russia, McDonald's basically scaled back its operations (but could not completely eradicate them as several branches are sublet to other companies). But now that the fast food giant is out of the country what's with the transition time, it has been replaced by "My Burger" - which apparently is a "transitory name" (good luck with that, usually transitory things are here to stay, look at any detour on a Lebanese highway supposed to be "temporary" - it has been so for around 3 decades). In an update to the post, apparently the name is now "Vkusno i Tochka" which means, "tasty and that's it" with a selling line that goes "the name changes, the love stays" in an apparent riff of McDonald's "I'm lovin' it".

So the logo is supposed to symbolize 2 fries and a burger in the shape of the letter "m". Ok reading the letter in question could be stretching it, and of course the logo is an interpretation of other things as well such as a lopsided wifi signal, or the Marriot Hotel logo which also suspended operations in Russia  (see here) or as Botrus Hajj said (whom you met here) "like a footballer kicking a ball". My friend back from university Ossama Dimassi pointed out the analogy with the Adidas logo and he was right as well.

So here we are, the opening of McDonald's on Pushkin square in Moscow was such a seismic event, the opening of My Burger less so.