Unbranded Menu was built on a fundamental understanding of the gaming medium and the gaming audience.

Instead of slotting a brand into a game, and hoping for the gamers to take notice, McDonald’s took an entirely different approach. It utilized an existing endemic gaming experience (screengrabbing) and branded it!

We not only effectively branded ALL GAMING FOOD as McDonald’s, but we gave each gamer a unique experience with the brand - from the influencer they picked it up from, to the game they chose to play, to the food item they screengrabbed (and later on exchanged for free food IRL)

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

For a brand as universal as McDonald’s, choosing to engage with the gaming audience wasn’t a limiting strategy, rather one that presented infinite opportunities. Much like McDonald’s, fans of gaming span all ages, genders and backgrounds - such a large and diverse audience who invest a lot of time, money and some may say, feelings, in their game/s of choice (and the content ecosystem surrounding these games).

The intent to tap this goldmine of an audience (43.3M in the Philippines) was the easy part. The challenge was in actually tapping a group notorious for rejecting marketers . We needed to unlock a new way-in for McDonald’s to engage with gamers, and in so doing, boost brand engagement and brand mentions.

Gaming is well on its way to becoming mass media. More and more, getting into this space requires a significant investment- such that a single gaming idea takes months and millions to make, literally.

McDonald’s attempts to infiltrate the gaming space have been limited to standard buys. Given the growth trajectory for this audience, McDonald’s knew we could do better. We remained at one-off efforts while our competitors invested in full-blown immersive experiences. Suffice to say (with a bit of chagrin), that when it comes to gaming, McDonald’s had not been behaving like the big global brand that it is.

Okay, so where do we even begin? Which game do we start with? What’s massive enough for a brand like McDonald’s (that other global brands haven’t already tapped)? And as important as the WHERE was the HOW - how do we engage an audience notorious for rejecting marketing efforts?

Instead of viewing gamers as individual targets, we looked at them as a thriving community, and based our approach on what was already existing in their universe.

We doubled down on EXISTING GAMING BEHAVIOR - Whether done for the sake of posterity or for bragging rights, screengrabbing is as natural to a gamer as chopping is to a chef! A behavior so well-grained it needs no explanation and works across mobile, PC and console, too. It was just a matter of directing gamers to do what they already do – with what was ours to claim in the first place! THOUSANDS OF ICONS ALREADY EXISTING IN GAME!

The best way to kick this off? EXISTING ENTERTAINMENT– livestreams of gamers just like themselves

Undeniable fact : burgers, fries and sundaes in video games, despite being logo-free, look just like McDonald’s.

Why try and integrate McDonald’s into just one game when McDonald’s food has been in who-knows-how-many video games all along - HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT!

To stake our claim on this unbranded menu, McDonald’s launched a game within video games. With very simple mechanics, latching on to the gamer habit of screengrabbing gaming moments for posterity or bragging rights. We enlisted the Philippines’ top gamers to initiate the hunt for the McDonald’s food-alikes –– screengrabbing and branding them #ThisIsMcDonalds on their social pages.

Soon, legions of gamers joined in the cross-gaming hunt. 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 free.

With this idea, we effectively branded ALL GAMING FOOD in the entire gaming universe.

While brands were negotiating to be integrated into billion-dollar titles, not only did McDonald’s NOT need to pay any publisher (or invest in any tech or development), McDonald’s also wasn’t limited to any one game. Thus far, this epic cross-gaming hunt has surfaced McDonald’s grub in over 350 DIFFERENT GAMING TITLES – from The Sims to Roblox to Final Fantasy to Grand Theft Auto.

In a single move, McDonald’s asserted its iconicity and ubiquity and got gamers to think of McDonald’s every time they see fast food inside ANY video game.

Even tastier than this unprecedented spread of games? Our brand and business results!

· Reached 27 million gaming fans (that’s ⅔ of Philippines’ gaming population!)

· +108% brand mentions

· +140% brand engagement

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

Always-on targeted media buys for McDelivery were running throughout the campaign as well.