McDonald’s just gave (some) customers something brilliant | ZDNet

How do you know when your customers really, really need your product?

Too often, their greatest need may come at the worst time for you. 

Perhaps you’re not open. Perhaps you’re too busy. Or perhaps you just don’t realize how great their need truly is.

When, for example, will you need a Big Mac the most? 

When you’re hungry, certainly. But also, perhaps, when disaster strikes and your options have dwindled toward the unacceptable.

McDonald’s has found an ingenious way to satisfy customers’ needs at precisely this moment.

May I present the McDelivery Detector?

The idea is blessedly simple. Should you be the sort of home cook who frequently fails at home cooking, you can apply for one of these gadgets.

As its name implies, it’s a smoke detector. The ingenious part, however, is that it doesn’t just detect an excess of smoke. It instantly texts you to ask whether you’d prefer to have McDonald’s delivered to you right away.

The clue, perhaps, lies in the McDetector’s shape. It looks just like a Big Mac. A plastic, upside-down Big Mac.

You’ll be delighted, too, to know that this thing is 3D printed, IoT inspired and, when smoke is detected, you hear the famous McDonald’s musical signature.

Rarely has disaster come with so much modern joy.

You might think this is all a small frivolity. A stunt to capture attention. You’d be right.

The McDetector is only available in the Netherlands, for this promotional idea emerged from McDonald’s Dutch arm.

Surely, though, many people all over the world would adore having one of these things permanently installed in their homes, as a savior for their cooking blunders?

Cooking can be hard. McDonald’s is always easy. This marvelous use of technology makes it easier still. The McDetector could even become a selling point embraced by realtors and home stagers.

This house doesn’t merely have smoke detectors. It has McDetectors.

I imagine McDonald’s sales and marketing departments might be frothing about this idea.

Which fast-food brand wouldn’t adore a permanent presence in the home, an upside-down burger hanging on the ceiling, gnawing at your appetite, 24 hours a day?