Title | WARNIE CHICKEN BITES |
Brand | MCDONALD'S |
Product / Service | SUMMER CHICKEN RANGE |
Category | A03. Best Product Launch/Re-launch |
Entrant | DDB GROUP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND |
Entrant Company: | DDB GROUP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND |
Sales Promotion/Advertising Agency: | DDB GROUP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Toby Talbot | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Group Executive Creative Director |
Aaron Goldring | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Digital Creative Director |
Jonathan McMahon | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Copy Writer |
Lisa Fedyszyn | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Art Director |
Paul Kim | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Copy Writer |
Steve Hansen | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Art Director |
Ben Barnes | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Digital Art Director/Copy Writer |
Judy Thompson | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Head of Television |
Pip Mayne | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Agency Producer |
Zoe Alden | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Group Business Director |
Susie Darling | DDB Group New Zealand/RAPP Tribal | Business Director |
Madeleine Fitzpatrick | McDonald's | VP Director of Marketing |
Nicki Lambert | McDonald's | National Marketing Manager |
Mark Lever | Sweetshop | Director |
Lynette Gordon | Sweetshop | Producer |
Danny Pope | Sweetshop | DOP |
Michael Lonsdale | Sweetshop | Editor |
Peter Van Der Fluit | Liquid Studios | Sound Design/Composer |
Viv Scanu | Carnival Films | Director/DOP Food Shoot |
Michael Corridore | Photographer |
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’. As their target market were males between the ages of 16-35, who spent their summer watching and playing cricket, they then signed on the world’s most infamous cricketer, Australian spin bowler, Shane Warne, to help promote it. But was a famous spokesman, really necessary to sell a product that ‘sells itself’? The answer… No.
We had to make sure that the chicken was the main focus across all the media and stay true to the concept of ‘Chicken so tasty it sells itself’. Which can be kind of hard to do when you have a known celebrity trying to sell it. So we did our best to get rid of Shane from all our advertisements. We covered him with the food and prices, stuck him in the background, cropped him from shot, when he was in shot we had him out of focus, put him in the shadows, and even gave him menial tasks like rotating the burger’s plinth.
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.
Shane was used as he is a cricket legend and big personality in Australia and New Zealand. The target market were cricket lovers, who are constantly exposed to KFC advertising as KFC are sponsors of the Australian cricket team. As a way to break through we used the recently retired Warne as our face. Well sort of. We were there to promote our products, not Warne himself. So we used self-deprecating comedy, which all Australians and New Zealanders love and can relate to, as a way to grab their attention and shift their focus onto our new chicken products.