Nando's takes a dig at McD's Malaysia's new burger, triggers online banter

Nando's Malaysia has taken a jab at McDonald's latest Portuguese Chicken Burger in an attempt to reassert its claim over the piri-piri sauce. This came as McD's Malaysia, along with its new Portuguese Chicken Burger,  launched an AR game titled “Catching Nonando” which seems to be a dig at Nando's. The game encourages consumers to catch as many Nonando chickens as possible within 60 seconds to collect points.The fast food chain also published a post about its AR game with the caption "Think you've got what it takes to catch the sly Nonando?" Meanwhile, McDonald's nonando is green in colour with a red comb and dots on its body while Nando's logo is a black chicken with white dots and a red comb.This led to Nando's publishing three separate Facebook posts with the first one captioned "No time for fake PERi-PERi." The first post, which garnered about 99 reactions, 33 comments and 23 shares at the time of writing, proclaimed Nando's to be "the real OG (original gangster) since 1987"."Born and raised in the rich fields of South Africa, our African Bird's Eye Chilli, aka PERi-PERi, has always been the heat and soul of our flavours," Nando's said, ending with the hashtag #ThisisNandosPERiPERi.Nando's second swipe at McDonald's was even more obvious with the line: "Hey, catch us for real. We're always here for our fans, seven days a week. No skills, no games, just some PERi love to experience how our African Bird's Eye Chilli should really taste like. #EveryoneIsWelcome." The post was captioned #MoNandos, a play on the "Nonando" term that McDonald's used for its campaign.Nando's did not hold back in its third and final post, which was captioned "Not Lovin' It?", an obvious dig at McDonald's famous slogan "I'm Lovin' It".In response, McDonald's commented on the three separate posts saying: "Wow, cool post. Thanks for sharing.", to which Nando's replied "Oh, you're here too?". This resulted in a GIF response from McDonald's saying "What's up!?".In response to McDonald's comments on one of the posts, Nando's said: "Wow, third comment? We feel you're kinda lovin' us." Both brands also used GIFs to show their sass and wit. Meanwhile, Domino's Pizza Malaysia was clearly enjoying the banter, adding on: "#sospicysodrama".Netizens' reactions were mainly positive, with many complimenting the marketing team and calling them cheeky. Some even said that they were initially thinking of trying McDonald's new burger but the online banter caused them to have a change their minds and they ended up craving for Nando's instead. A few netizens also said "Nonando is the poor man's Nando's" and that McDonald's has got nothing on Nando's. Nando's responded to consumers with its own GIFs such as "takde hal lah", "I love you" and "#MoNandos".Meanwhile, McDonald’s marketing director Eugene Lee told A+M: “We just wanted to have some friendly banter with them because they took our Nonando game and Portuguese Burger launch so personally.”So, which do you love? The real OG or Nonando? [Digital Marketing Asia Conference 2019 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia is coming back for it’s fourth year. ‘Moving Towards A Smart Nation’ will be this year’s theme with speakers from the civil service and private sector. Come join us on 26 – 28 August as we uncover the latest insights to empower digital marketers in Malaysia. Book your seats today.](GIF courtesy: GIPHY)