McDonald's MY marketer on why it launched the coffee-flavoured ice cream

McDonald's Malaysia has rolled out a selection of new coffee-flavoured ice creams. McDonald’s Malaysia’s marketing director Eugene Lee told A+M in a statement that its flavoured cones have been "extremely popular" since the launch three years ago.Since then, McDonald's has been offering a variety of ice cream flavours such as chocolate and strawberry, as well as locally-inspired ones including the lychee and jagung (corn). According to Lee, the coffee-flavoured ice cream was inspired by the coffee taste profile of Malaysians and was created to match how Malaysians love their coffee."We are expecting it to perform similar to the ever popular chocolate-flavoured cone. Our menu team is always looking for new ways to delight the Malaysian customer, and we always try to launch flavours that will excite them," he added. McDonald's plans to run the new product offering for four weeks and marketing will be done via digital platforms including Facebook and Google.According to data from Meltwater between 28 September to 4 October 2018, online sentiments were mainly positive (72%) while 22% were neutral. Media exposure peaked on 3 October 2018 with 52 mentions before dipping slightly on 4 October with 42 mentions. Meanwhile, trending themes surrounding the topic included "McDonald", "Salted caramel and chocolate pie", "now has coffee ice cream" and "new coffee flavoured ice cream".Previously, McDonald's made headlines when it jumped on the durian season hype to host an all-you-can-eat D24 Durian McFlurry event, featuring the D24 Durian McFlurry and its upsized version, the D24 Durian McFlurry Party. Lee told A+M then that durians buffets are extremely popular in Malaysia.The D24 Durian McFlurry was brought back in line with Hari Raya and the World Cup, much to the delight of consumers. Lee said previously that there was an “overwhelming demand” with the Durian McFlurry, which was sold out within four days in 2017, despite having planned a four-week campaign.(Read also: McDonald’s Malaysia marvels netizens with Infinity War-related McNuggets post)