The first hints of McVegan were posted to a Facebook group 'Sipsikaljavegaanit', which consists of around 52 000 members who share ideas and tips of vegan fast food and other vegan delicacies. The news of a vegan burger spread fast and caused a lot of discussion and hype all over social media. 

When McVegan was launched in Tampere, we implemented a local ad campaign, which consisted of locally targeted social media and programmatic display, with some digital outdoor placed in Tampere metropolitan area. The news spread across the nation, and consumers from other cities travelled to Tampere to taste the novelty.

Social media played a crucial role in spreading the hype, since many consumers along with known bloggers and social media influencers shared their experiences of the new burger. The news also spread abroad, and the McVegan was noted in international press, news websites, and even tv-shows.

As McDonald’s wanted the McVegan to gather attention in the test area of Tampere, our team helped them plan and execute a campaign that would generate awareness and excitement around the launch. The delicious product shot was amplified with a clever copy line that imitated the name and ideology of Finland’s biggest vegan community on Facebook.

After the launch, it didn’t take long for McVegan to go viral in Finland and overseas. In just a few hours Tampere gained a reputation as the world’s vegan capital, and McDonald’s the reputation of a vegan fast-food pioneer. McDonald’s Finland’s social media channels flooded with comments ranging from astonishment to awe.

Our carefully optimistic estimate was that every 33rd customer would buy McVegan. But during the campaign every 17th customer bought McVegan, which is astonishing, and more than double the amount of estimation. The optimistic sales targets set for the eight week campaign, were broken after the third campaign week. The amazing business results lead to the decision of launching McVegan nationally on 28th of December.

After the successful test campaign, Sweden also decided to launch the McVegan burger simultaneously with Finland. In its first three months, McVegan sold more than 150.000 units in a country of 65 restaurants. Additionally, the McVegan got thousands and thousands of media impressions globally.