Let’s face it. It’s rough out there, and people could use a little more Lovin’. On America’s largest stage, the Super Bowl, we chose to do something (versus just say something). We wanted to demonstrate our brand purpose, that “A little more Lovin’ can change a lot” – so we put our money where our mouth is. Instead of just making an ad, we invited customers into our 14,000 US restaurants, and encouraged them to pay with, instead of money, acts of Lovin’. We showed the world that we value Lovin’ so much, we see it as a form of currency.

And we did it big, through email blasts, a teaser campaign, social activations, retail activations, crew/management inspiration pieces, and a complete system training activation. More than 1.5 million people over 2 weeks paid with love, and we believe that we showed a little more Lovin’ really can change a lot.

We wanted to change the conversation about McDonald’s.

Our cultural insights told us it’s rough out there in the world for people. The negativity, the snarkiness, the hatin’ – it’s a lot, and some of it’s directed towards our brand. We wanted to show people what side we’re on. What we’re made of. What we stand for. So we chose to do something people would truly notice. Feel. Care about. We wanted to turn heads, and change minds.

So we did something seemingly small, but on a very large scale, designed to bring just a little more Lovin’ into the world.

1. Pay With Lovin’ saw the largest increase in purchase consideration (+8.1) among all advertisers during the Super Bowl.

2. McDonald’s had the top Share of Voice among Super Bowl advertisers.

3. McDonald’s overall sentiment score came in at 83% due to the activation.

4. #paywithlovin (a consumer created hashtag) trended on Twitter.

5. Consumer engagement increased 300%.

6. The :60 spot was viewed over 16 million times on YouTube.

This idea was rooted in truth. The customers in the commercial are not actors; they’re people. They didn’t know about the idea in advance – we simply filmed them experiencing it. This same real human reaction happened, all over the country, over and over. They all helped us put a little more Lovin’ into the world.

The authenticity was key to the execution, and a key strength of McDonald’s brand.

Launching a promotion of this scale with a system as large and complex was no easy task. In 2 weeks McDonald’s awarded over 1.5 millions “acts of Lovin.” We engaged owner-operators, regional staff, operations, crew and their managers to each play their own special part in. We created a system to identify randomly selected customers in over 14,000 restaurants every day for 2 weeks, and brought the idea to life socially via a Tumblr page that showcased the promotion in action.