Results and Effectiveness

In less than a month, we had over 1.2 million uses of the app from more than 80,000 downloads. Interaction rate for AR TVC reached over 170,000 in the first day! McDonalds also achieved highest-ever number of customers store visits and exceeded the sales targets of Prosperity Burgers by 72% which was completely sold out in just 2 weeks! The campaign also uplifted McDonalds key brand measures: ‘Favourite Instant Eating Out restaurant’ +21% (reflected a growth in true loyalists) Food image scores +20%. McDonalds didn’t only generated strong business but also blessed HK with love during this festive Chinese tradition.

Creative Execution

McDonalds championed the goodwill spirit of CNY and creatively revolutionized heartfelt blessings in a ‘new’ way to help salute these “Unsung Heroes” through HK’s most loved comedians “Soft Hard”. Thematic TVC set the tone for heartfelt blessings through an emotional showcase of HK’s ‘unsung heroes’. At the same time, we partnered with Commercial Radio to co-create blessings to ALL unsung heroes on the radio, and invited the public to download McDonald’s ‘Blessing Generator’ mobile App that allowed them to generate personalized blessings for their friends and families. A special TVC enabled through Augmented Reality allowed Hong Kongers to send greetings. People pointed their mobile phones at the TV screen and witnessed “Soft Hard” ‘stepped’ into their homes through the cyber doorway, wishing them a happy CNY. We couldn’t just stop there. “Soft Hard” also went around town to send the blessings to the “unsung heroes” coming from different fields.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

In Hong Kong, Chinese New Year (CNY) is always the difficult period for McDonald’s business because prosperous ‘foods’ from conventional Chinese cuisine always top HK people’s consideration list. Our challenge was to grow store visits by making both McDonald’s and its ‘Prosperity Burgers’ relevant during CNY. CNY is the only time that Hong Kongers can really just be open and share with others their most heartfelt wishes. We dug into people’s real feelings at this time of the year and delved beyond the taste of ‘Prosperity Burgers’ to resonate with HK people on a more personal level. We identified ‘heartfelt CNY blessings’ as McDonald’s key opportunity to associate the brand with the local festive ritual to connect with HK people. Instead of focusing on the 90% of people who would spend time with their families, we saluted the 10% of “Unsung Heroes” who kept HK ticking during the holidays.