I read with interest this week that McDonald's was given the 'green light' to establish an outlet at the new Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, albeit with a revised menu policy.
As you could expect, there was some resistance. If my memory serves me correctly, it was the same situation when Macca's wanted to open an outlet in the existing Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital. They won that battle too.
McDonald's wins these controversies for a number of reasons. Undoubtedly there is some deft lobbying going on in the background but a key reason is because McDonald's has learnt well the art of building a bank of goodwill.
There's a classic definition of public relations as thus: "Doing good and telling people about it".
McDonald's has long mastered the spirit of this definition.
This, from the Encyclopedia of Public Relations: "During the 1970s, (Al Golin, Chairman of Golin Harris) Golin and McDonald's Ray Kroc developed the concept of the trust bank, meaning companies should make deposits of goodwill to draw upon in times of crisis."
How much 'in the black' is your brand's bank of goodwill?
Some further reading:
