"The App Icon Switch" had one main goal: Bringing back our customers to our restaurants (McDrives®). And since over 10 million users already have installed the McDonald’s App on their smartphones, we decided to be as "direct" as we could be to reach this business relevant audience. We switched the app icon and placed our message on it: "McDrive® OPEN". Suddenly the app icon was not just an icon but a direct call-to-action to redeem attractive coupons and using the mobile ordering and pickup service in the app.

March 2020. Thanks to COVID-19, all restaurants in Germany had to close. But McDonald’s McDrives® could stay open. Sadly, most people didn’t realise it. So we had to address this very quickly. Time was, quite literally, money. Every day counted.

Instead of a time- and money-wasting national campaign, we dared to conduct an experiment. For the first time ever, we switched the McDonald’s app icon and turned it into probably the smallest media format in the world. We sent one simple message in two words to over 10 million smartphones at the same time: McDrive® OPEN.

In this case there was no typical client brief to serve as the basis for our creative idea.

Instead, our starting point was on one hand the existential threat posed by the restaurant closures, and the severe implications Covid-19 had for our client's revenues. And on the other, the observation that there was a great deal of uncertainty throughout the whole population about exactly which regulations applied. Many people simply didn't know that the McDonald’s McDrives® were still open for them.

Our strategic approach was determined by one fundamental question: how could we inform our customers as quickly and efficiently as possible that McDonald's was still there for them, throughout the Corona lockdown, at the McDrives®?

We had to find a way to address this very quickly. Time was, very literally, money. Every day counted. We simply couldn't afford to wait for the advertising materials to be produced.

Instead of a time-consuming and money-wasting national campaign, we dared to conduct a creative experiment. For the first time ever, we flipped the McDonald's app icon and turned it into probably the smallest media format in the world. We sent one simple message in two words to over 10 million Smartphones at the same time: "McDrive® OPEN".

Small icon, massive impact. We achieved an increase of 27 % in McDrive® visitors activated via the app. And mobile orders went up by a whopping 95 %.