The relationship between food and gamers has been around long before the gaming industry boom.

McDonald’s needed no convincing on the importance of this market. But previous attempts to infiltrate the gaming space had been limited to standard buys.

To cut through, where do we even begin? Which game do we start with? What’s massive enough for a brand like McDonald’s? (that our competitors haven’t already tapped) And how do we do gaming in a way that only McDonald’s can?

From the most casual candy crusher to the most serious esports player, gamers will all agree : food in video games look utterly familiar. Fries in red boxes, double-decker burgers, golden nuggets, and so on.

Brands were fighting (and paying) to be integrated into billion-dollar titles... But it seems that game developers have been cooking a menu of McDonald’s food into virtual worlds all this time.

The answer was obvious. Why try and integrate McDonald’s into one game when McDONALD'S FOOD HAS BEEN IN MOST VIDEO GAMES ALL ALONG - HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT!

The Big Mac. Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Chicken McNuggets. French Fries. All world-famous icons. All existing in-game. All unbranded. All waiting to be claimed.

That got us excited! How many of these unbranded menu items could we unearth? So we issued an open challenge to gamers –hunt for these food-alikes and claim them as #ThisIsMcDonalds

McDonald’s iconic menu items were ALREADY EMBEDDED into who knew how many video games. It was just a matter of staking our claim on them.

After playing with a hundred different approaches, the route we ultimately took was one that truly took on the mindset of a gamer. One who screengrabbed gameplay moments for posterity or bragging rights. One who wanted his multiverse free of distractions (and scoffed at clumsy attempts at branding). One whose source for hacks weren’t brands, but gamers like himself.

An organic start was key.

To do this, we enlisted the help of the Philippines’ #1 gaming influencer. Alodia Gosiengfiao (eight million followers) loved the fact that we weren’t limiting our idea to a single game or platform - mobile, PC, console - we wanted them all! We got her on board and got ready to kick off our open challenge.

We introduced A GAME WITHIN THESE GAMES.

We knew for a fact that gamers already screengrab moments in their game play. Our simple mechanic doubled down on this behavior. We invited them to search across games, screengrab McDonald’s food-alikes, and tag their finds #ThisisMcDonalds.

Our first challenge was to gaming goddess Alodia Gosiengfiao. When she posted a screengrab of a burger she found inside GTA V, McDonald’s responded and sent her a BigMac meal for her effort. She then invited her eight million followers to join a cross-gaming hunt.

Before long, some of the Philippines’ top gamers and their legions of hungry fans were sharing screengrabs of virtual food that – despite being logo-free – bear an uncanny resemblance to the iconic McDonald’s classics.

McDonald’s kept close watch, engaging with bespoke responses in real time. Gamers received coupons equivalent to their screengrub so they could have food delivered IRL for

It turns out McDonald’s didn’t need to pay to play.

Our simple hack has allowed us to stake a claim on ALL GAMING FOOD.

While other brands negotiated with one publisher at a time, this epic cross-gaming hunt has thus far surfaced McDonald’s grub in over 350 different gaming titles. Food-alikes have been found everywhere from classic video games (The Sims, Resident Evil) to multiplayer games (Fall Guys, Roblox), role-playing games (Final Fantasy, The Last of Us) and multi-billion-dollar titles (Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto).

McDonald’s not only reached 27 million gaming fans at $0 sponsorship cost, but this virtual hunt also delivered tasty results for the brand.

· 108% increase in brand mentions

· 140% increase in brand engagement

· 35% increase in McDelivery sales (thanks to hungry gamers ordering on top of their coupons, and showing off on their feed, triggering even more cravings, and orders!)