McDonald’s Australia is a loved brand. So loved in fact, that Aussies refer to it as Macca’s. In Australia, shortening a name is nearly always a sign of endearment. It was this insight that allowed us to capitalise on Australia Day 2013, and make McDonald’s the most talked about brand for the month of January. We had to walk a very careful path. After all, the name Macca’s belonged to the people of Australia, not the McDonald’s Corporation.

Via a skilled social campaign, we let Aussies take ownership of the name and an audacious idea to officially change the name of McDonald’s Australia to Macca’s for the month of January. This created incredible buzz in Australia and worldwide, generating over 272 separate news items with a global reach of nearly 3 billion people. Best of all, this buzz translated into sales for McDonald’s in the important, but tricky retail month of January. Sales were up an impressive 6.7% versus the year prior, which for a business the size of McDonald’s translates into a very large number indeed. Our impressive return on marketing investment was $7.47 profit for every $1 spent.

“The Australia Day promotion was an idea that brilliantly tapped into a unique quirk of this country – our penchant for shortening the names of those we hold dear. It was an idea that perfectly captured the mood of the moment and for the month of January, McDonald’s was the brand on everyone’s lips. The talk value we generated had a very positive impact on the McDonald’s brand and also on sales.”

Madeleine Fitzpatrick, VP, Director of Marketing, McDonald’s Australia.