Situation:

The local competitor MAX launched their app with special offers to its users and got a head start in growing its user-base and promoting its app deals to drive Swedes’ perception of the brand attribute “value for money”. This was a big deal, as value for money is the most important driver of visit intention in the burger business.

Brief:

Create an activation to make people download and use the McDonald's app.

Objectives:

Increase the number of app downloads from 30,400 during January 2022 to 42,000 during January 2023 and increase the number of active app users (those who use the McDonald’s app weekly) from 247,246 during January 2022 to 280,000 during January 2023.

Fortunately, there is one place where McDonald's great old deals are immortalized - Google Street View. In 2022, Google Maps updated its app, making it possible for people to use their mobile phones to historically revisit any geographic locations. Because Google had been taking photos of Sweden's streets since 2009, McDonald’s old deals were ‘stuck’ in the captured images. Year after year. Where they have been ever since, protected from inflation. And as McDonalds has done a lot of outdoor advertising over the years, many great deals from McDonald’s were essentially ‘stuck in time’. As inflation-protected deals are stuck in Google Street View, we can use them to make it McDonald’s best deals today.

To increase app usage and entice more Swedes to view McDonald’s as a brand that gives great value for money to drive visit intent, we needed a human insight, and we didn’t have to look far from the McDonald’s brand to find it. Because as food prices soared, Swedes didn’t just seek valuable, affordable food more than ever, they also turned to social media to express (often negative) sentiment about the change. McDonald’s, being known for its affordable food for decades, became a reference point for people remembering when times were better. In fact, the feed in McDonald’s own channels was full of people commenting nostalgically about McDonald’s old prices.

When McDonald’s first came to Sweden in 1974, they weren’t just the talk of the town but the entire country. But the world has spun a few times since then, and the category leader has found itself in an increasingly competitive market.

To get ahead and create personalized offers to drive frequency many competitors created apps. MAX, McDonald’s local competitor, were ahead of the curve, and the first big burger brand in the market to introduce an app. McDonald’s was lagging and didn’t launch its app until years later.

Being the first one out MAX got a head start in growing its user-base and promoting app deals to drive Swedes’ perception of “value for money”. This was a big deal, as value for money is the most important driver of visit intention in the burger business (1). Before our efforts began in 2022, only 43% of our target group (16-24) said McDonald’s had great value for money – compared to local competitor MAX’s 50%.

In 2022 McDonald’s decided to address the issue to increase perception of value for money, drive visit intent to ultimately increase visits and sales. To entice more Swedes to use the app and increase their perception of McDonald’s great value for money-brand we needed a human insight, and we didn’t have to look far to find it.

Because as food prices soared, Swedes didn’t just seek affordable food, they also turned to social media to express their dissatisfaction. McDonald’s, historically known for affordable prices, became a reference point for people reminiscing on better times. In fact, McDonald’s own channels was full of nostalgic comments about McDonald’s old prices.

Fortunately, there is one place where McDonald's great old deals are immortalized. 2022, Google Maps made it possible to historically revisit any geographic locations with your phone. Because Google have been taking photos of Sweden's streets since 2009, McDonald’s old deals were ‘stuck’ in the captured images. And they’re still there, protected from inflation. Quite literally “stuck in time”.

To increase app usage and maximize participation we needed an engaging idea as well as smooth user-experience. So, we created two ways to get the deals, one physical and one digital:

1. We located old McDonald’s outdoor ads on Google Street View (GSV) and purchased media in the same locations. Each deal had a unique QR code that led you to the “old” deal, only available in McDonald’s app.

2. People who found old deals on GSV could copy the URL and paste it to the campaign website. Once the deal was confirmed, people were directed to McDonald’s app where it became a redeemable voucher.

To maximize organic reach, we worked with PR and community mapping to tap into communities online. To make a cultural impact and increase participation on the platform our targets use the most we used YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and the McDonald’s app in addition to the outdoor ads.

Sources:

1. Kantar TNS, Driver Analysis for McDonald's Sweden, 2018

The campaign engaged people from all over Sweden, generating 12,000,000 in earned media impressions, more than Sweden’s population of 10 million. The big media exposure and engagement in the campaign increased the number of app downloads by +65%, from having 30,400 app downloads in January 2022, to 50,210 app downloads during the campaign in January 2023 , +19% (or 8,210) above objective (42,000). Meanwhile, the number of active app users rose by +28% . In January 2022, McDonald’s had 247,246 active app users and during the campaign in January 2023, they had 317,990 active app users, +13% (or 37,990) above objective

(280,000). The brand attribute “good value for money” rose by +30%, from 43% (January 2022) to 56% (January 2023) in the target group 16-24, +16% (or 8 ppt) above objective (48%), putting McDonald’s ahead by 8 percentage points versus MAX Burgers (48%) for the first time.