Every 42 seconds, someone posts a comment or question on social media about McDonald’s food. In recent years, the reviews were not good.

As questions turned to rumors, the brand’s reputation suffered. By August 2014, less than a third of U.S. millennials felt good about eating McDonald’s food.

To change its image, McDonald’s needed to change, for good.

Starting with a deep social listening audit – to find out what customers wanted to know – McDonald’s identified more than 2,000 questions the brand wasn’t answering each day.

That’s when McDonald’s launched the biggest, bravest campaign in its 60-year history: “Our Food. Your Questions.” With a bold call-to-action, McDonald’s invited anyone on social media to ask anything about its food.

Working with more than 200 McDonald’s experts, including supply chain and food science, a “rapid response” team engaged with people one-on-one, providing real answers to real questions on social media.

Meanwhile, the brand invited curious skeptics to join former “Mythbusters” TV star Grant Imahara for a behind-the-scenes road trip to explore the biggest McDonald’s myths out there.

In just five months, McDonald’s responded to more than 41,000 questions – sparking more social conversations and positivity about the brand than ever before.

With the “Our Food. Your Questions.” campaign, McDonald’s changed the conversation and changed the way people think about its food. Today, half of all millennials feel good about eating at McDonald’s – a 17% increase since the start of the campaign.

Turning skeptics into believers required a radically different approach for McDonald’s. That’s because U.S. millennials had long been spurning fast food companies in favor of brands that exuded the transparency and authenticity their generation demanded. While research proved it would be difficult to win over brand haters, McDonald’s believed it could change the minds of “curious skeptics” by opening up about its food. And by inviting this large segment of millennials to engage directly with the brand and discover the truth for themselves, McDonald’s U.S. set out to change the conversation and its reputation.

McDonald’s brave new approach to transparency got a lot of people talking. “Our Food. Your Questions.” sparked a 47% increase in social media chatter about McDonald’s food, with a 21% increase in positive/neutral sentiment.

Following an exclusive segment on “Good Morning America,” word of the campaign spread to hundreds of publications and broadcast outlets, earning 5.4 billion media impressions to date.

Most importantly, among millennials exposed to the campaign, there was a 53% increase in “feeling good about eating McDonald’s food.”

And by converting millennial skeptics, a more positive perception of McDonald’s spread throughout the U.S., resulting in:

- A 42% increase in the belief “McDonald’s is taking steps to be more transparent about its food”

- A 32% increase in the belief “McDonald’s serves real food”

- A 28% increase in the belief “McDonald’s uses fresh ingredients”

In October 2014, McDonald’s invited anyone on social media to ask anything about its food through a campaign called “Our Food. Your Questions.”

Never in its 60-year history had McDonald’s U.S. offered such unrestricted access to its food, suppliers and practices.

In just five months, McDonald’s responded to more than 41,000 questions on social media. The brand’s “rapid response” team relied on social listening to craft personalized responses that humanized the brand and changed the conversation about McDonald’s food.

To address the biggest myths on social media, McDonald’s enlisted former “MythBusters” TV star Grant Imahara. Over four months, Imahara and several millennial skeptics visited 13 McDonald’s U.S. suppliers and restaurants. An in-depth, behind-the-scenes YouTube series followed their journey and discoveries, drawing in 17 million viewers.

“Our Food. Your Questions.” spanned paid, earned and owned channels and changed the way McDonald’s U.S. communicates, for good.

“Why are McDonald’s chicken nuggets made from pink slime?” For years, questions like these ran rampant on social media channels, blogs, news outlets and at dinner tables across America. Yet the historically conservative brand rarely addressed them. And when it did respond, the company’s messages fell flat. As questions turned to rumors, McDonald’s was no longer able to define what its brand stood for. And by August 2014, only 37 percent of millennials felt good about eating at McDonald’s restaurants. Just 32 percent felt good about the food.

To understand the mindset of millennial skeptics, McDonald’s conducted a massive social listening audit and identified the most common questions, conversations and misperceptions about its food.

The brand discovered that 40% of the conversations revolved around five key categories, including questions about the company’s 100% real beef and alleged use of “pink slime” in its Chicken McNuggets.

In addition to understanding the types of questions, McDonald’s looked closely at the volume of conversations on social media. The brand realized it was missing out on nearly 2,000 engagement opportunities each day – opportunities to provide real answers to real questions in real time. With these findings, McDonald’s created a bold, customized solution. The brand assembled a team of “rapid responders” to engage with customers and curious skeptics alike.

And to get the answers right, McDonald’s organized a team of more than 200 experts across supply chain, food science, marketing and PR.