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White Castle claws its way into McDonald's crab space

White Castle's took on McDonald's this week in one-page visual distillation of the term "good, healthy competition" this week.

February 27, 2017 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

White Castle took on McDonald's this week in a one-page visual distillation of the what the term "good, healthy competition" is all about.  

It materialized Wednesday, when White Castle ran a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune, inviting McDonald's corporate employees in the Chicago suburb of Oakbrook to stop by the White Castle restaurant in neighboring Lombard, Illinois, for one of the chain's seafood crab cake slider on Tuesday, Feb. 28. The ad explained that "if" 50 corporate McDonald's employees stopped by that day for such a purpose, White Castle would donate $10,000 to Ronald McDonald House Charities. 

Sounds extremely sweet, doesn't it? But of course, it has a slight passive-aggressive twist of promotional piracy embedded between the lines. After all, ss White Castle explained in its ad, it only made the offer because Oakbrook-based McDonald's recently started testing its own crab sandwich at four stores in San Jose, California, approximately 2,200 miles west of the Lombard location. 

"White Castle’s similar Seafood Crab Cake Slider is not just a test, it’s available at all locations," said a company press release, in a tone we presume to be something like that of Glinda the Good Witch in Wizard of Oz. "McDonald’s Chicago-area employees don’t have to travel roughly 2,200 miles from their own headquarters to try a crab sandwich (that's) just five miles to the nearest White Castle."

Of course, if it's a relatively slow news day, somebody's news crew is going to end up covering the stunt and in the process, giving White Castle a little free media  as a do-good corporate citizen that not only is kind to the competition, but supports their good causes. 

Result? White Castle scores one for an innovative approach to getting some glowing free media around its new crab cake slide. And Ronald McDonald's House Charities scores at least 10 times more for getting some very worthy attention in the process. 

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.