MCDONALD'S PLANS BIG MAC PROMOTION.

Byline: Cliff Edwards Associated Press 

McDonald's Corp. is going back to the Mac - and on to a half dozen new concoctions and price cuts as it tries to bring back customers who have gone cold on the company's menu.

A September promotion celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Big Mac by rolling back prices to the 1968 cost of 49 cents is part of new chief executive Jack Greenberg's efforts to keep the world's largest fast-food chain on top.

In choosing the Big Mac to execute a new promotion, the company is hoping to cash in on nostalgia for the past and the popularity of its main sandwich. Approximately 600 million Big Macs are consumed across the United States each year.

``The Big Mac continues to be our flagship sandwich,'' said R.J. Milano, the company's assistant vice president of USA marketing.

The Big Mac was created by Pittsburgh, Pa., franchisee Jim Delligatti and exported to the company's 1,086 stores and sole Canadian restaurant. The sandwich can be found in most of McDonald's 23,300 restaurants worldwide and is considered one of its most successful products.

The three-week promotion beginning Sept. 16 includes chances to buy sandwiches and drinks at 1968 prices, win a 1968 and 1998 Volkswagen Beetle and see employees in tie-dyed clothing.

McDonald's previewed the promotion Wednesday by announcing the town where residents eat the Big Mac most. According to store figures and U.S. Census data, Irwindale - population 1,045 some 26 miles east of Los Angeles - is the place. The town's consumption is 337 sandwiches per capita each year, but that includes purchases by customers from surrounding areas and travelers.

McDonald's internal surveys show children overwhelmingly prefer it over other fast-food locations; its Happy Meals and movie tie-ins and promotions keep them coming in by the millions. But adults say they believe there are tastier burgers elsewhere, a disturbing fact when looking at trends showing an aging population.

New menu ideas to date have not proved successful since the 1983 launch of Chicken McNuggets. The company earlier this decade flirted with pizza, pasta and chicken dishes in several test markets, then moved on to the overwhelming flop McLean Deluxe and the coolly received Arch Deluxe in 1996. Consumers have been cool to the changes, as shown by weakening domestic sales growth since 1988.

Now, by focusing on the increasing calls for convenience, speed and a tasty and filling product, McDonald's hopes to boost the company's bottom line and smash competitors in the increasingly acrimonious burger wars by pulling in more people, more often, analysts say.