McDonald’s is the go-to brand in the Netherlands when people want to have good times.

But McDelivery is less well known within the Netherlands. 54% doesn’t know that McDonald’s delivers food. And we know for a fact that awareness strongly correlates with McDelivery orders.

We needed a buzzworthy idea that made McDelivery top of mind and let people get familiar with the delivery service.

We had a €163,000 media budget and a production budget of €80,887.

First, we designed the McDelivery Detector in the iconic shape of a Big Mac while keeping the round and flat shape of every other smoke detector. This image was an instant hit.

Then, we provided the McDelivery Detector not only with an alarm, but also with a chip that could connect to the internet of things. When the detector detects smoke, it would send your favourite order to the nearest McDonald’s restaurant. And you would receive a free meal at your doorstep within minutes.

Lastly, we changed the annoying alarm sound of a smoke detector with another sound everyone recognises: the iconic McDonald’s tune. This way, you know McDelivery is on its way, when your dinner went up in smoke.

These three elements sparked people’s imagination and made the McDelivery Detector the gadget everyone wanted.

Not everyone is a master chef. And even if you are, mistakes can happen... 73% of Dutch people ruin their dinner multiple times each year. For 18- to 29-year-olds – our most important delivery audience – this is even higher: 92%.

But a ruined dish, shouldn’t ruin your day. Luckily, McDelivery turns this bad luck into Good Times with your favourite McDonald’s products and the ultimate gadget: the McDelivery Detector.

We wanted to target home cooks, tech lovers and McDonald’s fans. So, we framed it as the must-have gadget every food, tech or McDonald’s-lover needed to have. And with a limited edition of only 6 McDelivery Detectors, everyone wanted one!

Consumers in the Netherlands could win one by sharing their funniest cooking failure in the McDonald’s App. These funny stories were shared online and on radio to get even more people share their failure and spark the conversation.

To target home cooks, tech lovers and McDonald’s fans, we kicked off the campaign with a PR video on our social channels on the 13th of April. And fans loved it right away.

Then, we approached food-, culture-, and tech blogs to pick up on the story as well. And they did... Even international media talked about. It was everywhere on the internet and even on American television too!

Consumers in the Netherlands were prompted to submit their cooking failures. After that, we sent the 6 McDelivery Detectors we made to the lucky winners.

In the meantime, the most listened to radio station in the Netherlands, Q-music, invited listeners to call in and share their cooking failures on the radio as well. This led to hilarious stories that sparked the conversation even further and let people talk about their failures.

We launched the McDelivery Detector in April. Therefore, we can’t fully conclude the effects of the campaign yet. However, the first results look very promising.

The focus of our campaign was to get McDelivery noticed, and it did!

Our story was picked up by national and international media, from Japan to the US. From news outlets like ABC and NBC to high impact websites like ELLE, HYPEBEAST and Highsnobiety.

In the first two weeks of the campaign, we generated a reach of 12,692,876 within the Netherlands, with a positive sentiment. Not bad for a country of only 17 million people.

The noise around the McDelivery Detector led to real engagement in the McDonald’s app, with 4,364 submissions already, and counting.