Background

• Situation

In 2022, Spain experienced the worst wildfires in decades. They destroyed not only forests, but also thousands of hectares of cropland, which resulted in huge harvest losses.

• Brief

One of McDonald’s Spain’s brand commitments is supporting the Spanish rural community. It is committed to the farmers and ranchers who work every day to provide food for the brand. In response to the fires that devastated Spain, McDonald’s reaction was to launch a campaign to help the people affected.

• Objectives

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The campaign had a two-fold objective:

To increase the visibility of McDonald’s commitment to the Spanish rural community.

To help farmers and ranchers recover from the effects of the fires.

McDonald’s decided to buy many of the crops lost to the wildfires and create “the burger that could not be.” A burger that did not exist, but that the company invited its customers to buy for just €1 as a donation to support the Spanish rural community.

McDonald’s commitment to the Spanish rural community is inspired by the philosophy of karma: What you give to the land comes back to you (in product quality). This translates into supporting and helping the rural community, and trying to make society aware of the different problems and difficulties it faces.

After the wildfires, it was urgently necessary to acquire resources to restore the burned land and, due to McDonald’s corporate size and business volume, we had the capacity to help them.

We decided to create a new product: a hamburger that did not exist as a tribute to the crops destroyed by fire.

“The hamburger that could not be” was an empty box full of meaning. With this solidarity initiative, we aimed to raise awareness about the wildfires and encourage people to contribute the symbolic price of €1 to help recover the burned land.

To publicize the initiative, we developed a campaign inspired by the stories of the affected families and the final condition of the burned crops.

• Implementation

We decided to create a new product: a burger that did not exist as a tribute to the crops destroyed by fire.

“The burger that could not be” was an empty box full of meaning. With this solidarity initiative, we aimed to raise awareness about the wildfires and encourage people to contribute the symbolic price of €1 to help recover the burned land.

To publicize the initiative, we developed a campaign inspired by the stories of the affected families and the final condition of the burned crops.

• Timeline

“The burger that could not be” was launched as an immediate response to the wildfires that ravaged Spain last summer. The campaign was on the air during the third and fourth weeks of August 2022.

• Placement

“The burger that could not be” went on sale at McDonald’s restaurants in Spain. It could also be purchased through the main food delivery apps such as Uber

List the results (30% of vote)

• Business impact – sales, donations, site traffic

• Response rate

• Change in behavior

• Brand perception

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€80,000+ RAISED

€1.7 M PR VALUE

98% POSITIVE SENTIMENT

15.933.271 IMPRESSIONS

4.531.506 VIDEO VIEWS