Instead of changing the whole app platform or meddling with the app coding, we created a promotion changing something smaller: Our App Icon.

We call it "The Promoticon"

By updating the McDelivery app icon design, people can easily discover what McDonald's product they get for free with each order.

If the icon is a Big Mac, people get a free Big Mac, if it is fries, free fries, Same with Mcnuggets, apple pie, McChicken and many more iconic products.

The Promoticon campaign launched across 6 markets in the GCC region for a 7 weeks time period. Knowing that the regional culture revolves around driving and mall related activities, we launched first by going outside of people’s phone. To create a maximum awareness, we launched “Introducing Promoticon” through radio and billboard encouraging people to download and discover the new look and function of the app. The online launch of the campaign consisted into the release of a video explaining the “What and How Promoticon” on Youtube desktop and mobile. We started the conversation online by announcing the great Promoticon news and the first “Free McNuggets” offer on the most popular social media channels in the region: Facebook and Instagram.

Within the first week of our campaign our Promoticon social content received more than 125,000 interactions. On Facebook people started to share the good news with their friends and family, praising the initiative and tagging people in their comments for them to download the McDelivery app and enjoy the offer of the moment. During the first week of the campaign, we increased the number of orders through the McDelivery app by more than 200% on average across the GCC region, with a skyrocketing number of 459% increase in Kuwait. And it was just the beginning, the consumers loved it so much that McDonald’s decided to adopt the Promoticon as a seasonal promo campaign, planning the release of new promoticons and creating a true McDelivery loyalty amongst its consumers.

Downloading the McDelivery app was not the problem with millennial families in the GCC region. With a smartphone penetration of more than a 100% and an average download of 5 or more new apps every month our audience was more than willing to try the McDelivery app. The issue to tackle was that after downloading the McDelivery app and using it for the first time, our customers would forget about it, delete it or go back to using generic apps to order McDonald’s. We needed to find a new use for our app without having to reinvent the app itself. We wanted to create a ‘need’ and ‘want’ for our consumers to check and order again from the app without having to harass them with invasive push notifications.

McDonald’s Arabia launched a delivery app a few months ago as an effect of the current shift happening in food delivery from call centres to online channels. However the McDonald's McDelivery app was facing a real challenge with a multitude of generic delivery apps offering to deliver food from thousands of restaurants including McDonald's.

So our question was “How do we get people to not only download the McDelivery app but and also keep ordering from it vs. other generic food delivery apps?”