Insight
McDonald’s was launching ImLovinIt24 globally to bring “24 acts of joy to 24 cities over 24 hours”, connecting with the millennial consumer and sparking positive brand conversations.
To make joy highly palpable, in the Philippines the brand focused on a daily source of unhappiness: rush hour traffic – ranked 9th worst in the world. The agony is magnified at the tollways where consumers still need to pay toll.
Strategy
To cheer up motorists, agency Leo Burnett Manila transformed tollbooths into McDonald’s Drive-Thru booths that waived toll fees and gave out free breakfast instead. The McTollbooth experience was amplified through media to reach even more consumers.
The campaign was aimed at millennials in the Philippines. They are typically characterised by their consumption of information and entertainment across several screens, making them global citizens, so to speak. They are opinionated and sometimes tend to be jaded with or critical of big brands. They are daily commuters. They are social media-savvy. Because the campaign was part of McDonald’s global activation, it also gained a spillover audience of millennials in other countries.
Execution
A day prior to the event, teasers were posted on McDonald’s social pages. Then on the day itself, McTollbooth news rolled out locally and globally. Celebrities helped man the booths. News and social coverage amplified the experience via live, on-the-spot reporting, tweeting and photo/video uploads.
Motorists who missed out still won free breakfast by simply uploading their group pictures (groupfies) inside their vehicles to the McDonald’s Philippines Twitter page with the #imlovinit24 and #McTollbooth hashtags. 24 hours later, a McTollbooth recap video was posted on social media to spike more conversations. More press, broadcast and online media coverage followed, including global.
Results
• Over 7 million views and counting
• Top 5 in the Ad Age Viral Video Chart
• 33.7 million online impressions
• Over 42.6 million netizens reached
• Nearly $1.15m media value earned on just $72,000 media spend
• 100% positive sentiments on-ground during the activation
• 99% positive sentiments online for McDonald’s with a lot of comments specific to Philippine operations.
• +119% growth in conversation share of voice (SOV) for McDonald’s Philippines during the campaign period vs competitors Jollibee (-41%) and KFC (-50%).