Number of donations was never a main objective. In fact, it was never in the brief. Couldn't have been. On our local market (Bulgaria) the brand has general issues that has to deal with brand trust. Our objectives was to increase the following KPI's (measured quarterly):

1) Is a brand I trust

2) Is a brand for someone like me

3) Has food I feel good about my kids eating

Children are kind, sweet and... selfish. That's why we decided to help the next generation be a little more open to sharing. This is how created 'Happy Mail'.

The Mechanics:

1) Buy a Happy Meal in a McDonald's restaurant, and ask to donate your toy (our staff will also invite you to it).

2) You will be given an envelope, sticker, stamp, crayon and a notepad.

3) Use them to make a letter/parcel and place the toy inside

4) Put this Letter/package in the Happy Mail box near the counter at the restaurant

5) Go back to the counter and ask for your badge of honor

The truth is children deprived of parental care don't need toys. They need so much more than that and we all struggle to find a universal solution for it. And, no, it's not something we could have solved with a single campaign.

We set for something else. We approached the kids who needed to be taught good. We approached their parents, too by actually parenting their kids, providing them with the noble opportunity, probably the first one in their young lives, to donate. To give good to others. We approached them directly, on the spot, when most affected, to maximize the impact.

It was a direct activation announced in various ATL channels such as TV, digital and OOH. However, as previously mentioned, the hot spots were our 36 restaurants nationwide.

1) POS materials were literary pointing towards the mailbox where one was supposed to donate his/her toy.

2) In-store audio spot was attracting visitors (especially in restaurants located in malls)

3) Staff was well trained to propose to each Happy Meal buyer to donate. Then they were also patiently explaining the mechanics, as well.

The campaign started on April 17, culminated with extra announcement around the International Children's Day (June 1) and ended a week after that

Campaign was huge success with more than 95% positive sentiment. Major brand indexes are on the rise (we are still expecting Q3 reports)

1) Is a brand I trust - went up 5 points (20 -> 25)

2) Is a brand for someone like me - went up by 3 (20 -> 23)

3) Has food I feel good about my kids eating - had a huge increase which is also due to the fact that this is the only brand health tracker that is more directly connected to Happy Meal. It went up from 15 to 22 points, which is a ~50% increase

In this result section, an honorable mention goes to the toys donated, yes. 2154 were collected throughout the campaign and McDonald’s doubled that number for the final donation to children deprived of parental care.