McDonald's Has Gained A New Ally By Sucking Up To This Group Of Bloggers Advertisement
 Mom bloggers are McDonald's newest "nontraditional ally," reports Keith O'Brien at the New York Times. They've been identified as a group who can do big things for the company and its brand. Here's what Rick Wion, director of social media for McDonald's USA, told the NYT: "'Bloggers, and specifically mom bloggers, talk a lot about McDonald’s,' he says. 'They’re customers. They’re going to restaurants.' And even more important, these women have loyal followings. Why not let them behind the curtain, hope they like what they see and let them tell readers about it? 'We identified them and said: ‘These are our key customers. These are key influencers for our brand,’' Wion says. 'We need to make sure we’re working with them.'” So what exactly is McDonald's doing? It's giving them perks to essentially try to influence them. For instance, in 2010 McDonald's invited 15 mom bloggers to visit its headquarters. It flew them and their families to Chicago, got them a nice hotel and gave the families a tour of the HQ — the test kitchen, Ronald McDonald House and more. They also got access to Jan Fields, the president of McDonald's USA. It worked for McDonald's. Each blogger was asked to write a post about their trip, and they happened to be "overwhelmingly positive," according to the NYT. Now this is quite a controversial topic, since it's blurring the lines between advertising and PR. From the mom bloggers' standpoint, there's no other way they can get this kind of access. Critics would simply call it a spin tactic. Are you a blogger that has been involved with McDonald's? What's one of these trips really like? Shoot an email to kbhasin@businessinsider.com. Please follow War Room on Twitter and Facebook. | 
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