SITUATION

To celebrate the Lunar New Year in the United States, McDonald’s aimed to develop a culture-inspired and tech-forward campaign that not only demonstrated the brand’s cultural fluency, but also its commitment to innovation.

BRIEF

Produce an innovative Lunar New Year campaign that not only resonates with the communities that observe the holiday, but also introduce the celebration to diverse mainstream audiences.

The brand activation should deliver joy and togetherness -- hallmarks of both the holiday and McDonald’s -- while also feeling true to the brand and culturally authentic.

OBJECTIVES

Engage Gen Z audiences through culture and technology

Reinforce McDonald’s commitment to celebrating culture and embracing innovation

We wanted to ring in the Lunar New Year with a culture-inspired and tech-forward brand experience that invited consumers to become active participants -- not just spectators -- in a global celebration.

By leveraging the latest innovations in Web3 (AI, AR, VR and the metaverse) and also adapting them for IRL (in real life) experiences, we delivered a truly interactive campaign that not only honored the holiday’s themes of joy and togetherness, but also offered consumers a totally new way to engage with the Golden Arches.

To help bring the tech elements to life while also ensuring cultural authenticity, McDonald’s teamed up with award-winning digital content creator (and Web3 expert) Karen X Cheng. In addition to pushing the boundaries of Web3 marketing, the partnership would be Karen’s very first brand collaboration that recognized and celebrated her Chinese American heritage.

TARGET AUDIENCES

Multicultural Gen Z and young Millennials

Web3 enthusiasts and early tech adopters

APPROACH

Be firsts, not followers -- push the boundaries and break new ground in Web3 marketing, not just pursue the metaverse trend. We wanted to shatter existing digital marketing approaches while introducing an all-new paradigm for the industry.

Explore the intersection of culture and technology -- leverage the two largest passion points for Gen Z to deliver a program that seamlessly blended culture with Web3 innovation

Prioritize immersiveness and interactivity -- allow consumers to PARTICIPATE in our Web3 campaign, not just “consume” it as a passive spectator

Bullseye and beyond -- not only resonate with communities that observed the holiday but also engage those who were entirely new to the celebration

360 integration - support the Web3 program with paid, owned and earned tactics to ensure the broadest possible reach

IMPLEMENTATION

Web3:

AI-powered television commercial -- one of the first to utilize NeRF (neural radiance fields), which uses AI to create immersive 3D scenes

Metaverse world -- a state of the art experience for guests to interact and celebrate

Interactive AR filter -- a breathtaking 3D illusion visualizing the Year of the Rabbit

Experiential:

Times Square 3D billboard -- transformed AR filter into an animated spot promoting our Web3 experiences

Metaverse infinity room -- turned VR experience into an experiential booth

Limited edition merchandise -- adapted AR filter into wearables and other custom items

PLACEMENT

Supported with national broadcast and digital media buys as well as a Times Square billboard, event sponsorships and influencer engagement.

SCALE

Our US-based activation garnered global attention; generating headlines and social engagement in over twenty countries -- from Mexico to Singapore -- and over a dozen languages.

BRAND RELEVANCE

McDonald’s is not only a brand that celebrates culture and diversity, but also innovation. Our culture-led and tech-forward campaign aligned with the new direction being “big in culture”

TOUCH POINTS

The campaign reached consumers where they are -- through their digital devices (metaverse, online commercial, microsite), social media (branded content, AR filter, influencer engagement) and the places they gather (Times Square, community festivals).

MATERIALS, STYLE ELEMENTS, DESIGN CHOICES

Lunar New Year’s most popular holiday colors -- red and gold -- are also coincidentally McDonald’s brand colors. This enabled our creative team the unique opportunity to stay on-brand while also culturally authentic. We also used metallic and reflective shades of red and gold to reinforce the campaign’s tech elements and the holiday’s emphasis on wealth and good fortune.

METHODS AND PROCESS

Built entirely ground up in less than 3 months, our campaign emphasized research and development and securing the perfect creative partnership.

BUSINESS IMPACT

During the January - February activation window, McDonald’s experienced sales growth among key KPIs

Sustained sales and guest count growth that outperformed QSR competitors

Gen Z penetration within the QSR category was up

Performance of McDelivery experienced increases across guest count, average check and sales

IMPRESSIONS

Total reach: 414 million

Media impressions: 402 million

Organic social reach: 14 million

CONSUMER AWARENESS

Despite being a US program, McDonald’s Web3 activation drew global media attention and consumer participation from around the world; with articles appearing in dozens of countries and languages

On social media, the activation garnered the unanimous support of the highly-influential Web3 community, who helped promote the program to notable tech influencers and tech enthusiasts.

BRAND PERCEPTION

The activation reinforced McDonald’s reputation as an innovative brand that continues to show up big in culture and meet their fans where they are -- in culture, technology and even Web3.