The Maestro Burger is much more than food touching your taste buds; it is part of a memorable brand experience. We wanted to demonstrate that, through a live musical experience in our restaurant that would ignite all the senses.

We surprised unsuspecting guests (under the pretense of product research) in their local McDonald's restaurant by musically accompanying their entire Maestro experience with a 60-piece orchestra and choir (led by the famous Maestro Guido Dieteren). Each movement and reaction– the sound of walking down the stairs, waiting in line, paying with cash or card, accidentally bumping into someone, eating fries, drinking ¬– had its very own musical note, melody or tone. But we dialed it up even more with a component during the stunt where there was an interaction, via live stream, between the lead singer of the choir and the guest.

The featured guests during this live musical piece are real people. In no way were they briefed on what was to come. They were invited via street casting to participate in product research.

The musical piece was composed specifically for ? or better said, during ? the activation, in one of our local restaurants. The orchestra, choir, and the production team were hidden in a concert hall down the road from the McDonald’s restaurant. Our challenge was to musically accompany, choreograph and direct this activation from a distance. The orchestra had to meticulously practice all possible scenarios that could occur during the interaction with the guest, based on how they would (or wouldn’t) engage with the lead singer of the choir. Dieteren and his entourage showed exceptional professional skill by tapping into the spontaneity of the moment to convey the live emotions of the guests throughout their Maestro experience.

This successful campaign resulted in an enormous surge in people coming to our restaurants to taste the Maestro burger, resulting in a large increase in sales (see confidential section).

The live event was documented in a 110 second film. The video got an enormous amount of views, considering our small country (see confidential section). Moreover, the engagement with this content was high, with 22% of the viewers watching the entire video. The video was also posted on various international McDonald’s accounts (not shared), resulting in a global (organic!) reach of +50 million people. In addition, we gained €85.000 in free publicity.