Tokyo and its fellow metropolis Osaka. Osaka people are friendly, and they love to laugh. So much so that it seems like they constantly look for punchlines in every day conversation. Throughout Japan, the Osaka dialect symbolizes the cheerful nature of their character.

McDonald’s is called by its nickname Mac in most parts of Japan, but in Osaka, it is called Makudo. This is known throughout the country, and is a regular topic of conversation.

The Mac Vs Makudo burger battle really stirred up the love Osaka people hold for their city, and McDonald’s officially used this Makudo nickname for the first time, going as far as changing the CEO’s message to the Osaka dialect. This message is quite a serious matter, and by changing this to the Osaka dialect, the McDonald’s brand became one with the Osaka character, and created the impression of a fun and friendly brand.

Implementation of the PR,Timeline, and Scale

1 Pre Release Teaser

We tweeted prior to release that “the nickname Makudo is used in only 11 of Japan’s 47 prefectures”. And this got McDonald’s fans riled up, especially Osaka lovers, giving rise to heated discussions online.

2 Release & Launch

Online, we stirred up a battle between a burger representative of Makudo, and a burger representative of Mac, and in our release we claimed that if Makudo won, we might rename the Big Mac to the Big Makudo! .

3 Mid Campaign

In the end, Makudo was the winner, and to celebrate the win, the CEO's message on the official McD website was changed to the Osaka dialect. As the Osaka dialect is more frank in nature, changing the CEO's message to the Osaka dialect gave it a much more playful and humorous feel.

Media outputs

Total PR Exposure: $11,000,000

TV & Radio: $4,600,000

Newspaper: $1,100,000

Web Media: $5,300,000

Participants on Twitter: 362,000

The “Makudo is used in only 11 prefectures” tweet alone gained 18,211 retweets and 14,818 likes,

Every TV show and news report referenced the changing of the CEO’s message to the Osaka dialect in a very positive way, focusing on the fun surrounding this. This allowed us to gain exposure that conveyed the fun of the McDonald’s brand, just as planned.

One of the national newspapers featured it in a front-page column.

Business Outcomes

During a McDonald’s survey, the campaign scored 47% in the “McDonald’s has Fun Campaigns” index, which was the highest figure in 2017.

We also achieved +6.3? in incremental sales (compared with the case where the campaign was not implemented).