Results and Effectiveness

McDonald’s finally forced its way into advertising at cricket grounds during the Ashes series, which had long been a KFC stronghold. We reached our target market and got them trying our chicken. And as a result, total chicken sales at McDonald’s increased by 80%. Chicken burger sales increased by 92%. McBites sales were 60% above their forecast. And 2 weeks after launch, McDonald’s New Zealand recorded their highest sales week EVER in the history of being open in this country. And to top it all off, not long after the campaign launched, Shane Warne was seen canoodling with English model/actress, Liz Hurley. Coincidence? Maybe.

Creative Execution

Chicken became the hero of this campaign, while Shane Warne was forced to become, well… an irrelevant extra. In TV, food was used to cover Shane’s face. He was also stuck in the background, cropped out of shot and we even gave him menial tasks like rotating the burger’s plinth. With online executions, fake loading bars would sit in front of his face. As did a never-ending buffering icon. In other banners, users also got the chance to click, drag and remove him from the banners altogether. In outdoor, when starbursts weren’t covering Shane’s face he could be seen in the background and out of focus. Only to be gone altogether by night. As the light above him was disconnected. Instore, shelf wobblers had burgers hanging in front of Shane, and tray mats saw the product placed over Shane’s face. Everywhere you looked it was chicken selling itself.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

For the 2010/2011 Summer, McDonald’s launched a new ‘limited time only’ chicken range. And through its advertising wanted to prove that their chicken was the tastiest going around. In fact, their chicken was so delicious it was branded, ‘Chicken so tasty it sells itself’. But the problem was convincing their target market, males 16-35 of this. This target market spent their summers watching and playing cricket where they have been exposed to KFC advertising for years on end as KFC was the Australian cricket team major sponsor. As a way to compete and promote their new products, McDonald’s signed on the world’s most infamous cricketer, Australian spin bowler, Shane Warne. But was a famous spokesman, really necessary to sell a product that ‘sells itself’? The answer… No. So using humour McDonald’s set about doing their best not to focus on the man they were using to sell their product.