The Campaign

McDonald’s believes that everybody should be able to enjoy a good breakfast on National Breakfast Day. But there are those who have to get up for work so early in the morning that they skip breakfast entirely—just like the humble fisherman. In the archipelagic country that is the Philippines, thousands of people earn their livelihood from the vast sea that surround their domiciles. They are typically at sea from 2 to 6 AM, fishing in their humble boats. So we brought National Breakfast Day to hardworking fishermen. A specially designed boat with the iconic McDonald’s pylon headed out into deep waters early in the morning to bring good cheer to fishermen through warm McDonald’s breakfast meals. The act was captured on film and posted on social media to amplify National Breakfast Day.

Creative Execution

We built a McDonald’s-themed fishing boat (complete with a 15-foot, glowing McDonald’s pylon) and rode it out to sea very early in the morning to surprise fishermen with warm breakfast McMuffins and hot coffee. We captured the activation on film and shared it to the world in the evening of March 14th 2016, National Breakfast Day. Complementing this, McDonald’s gave free breakfast to over 40,000 fishermen, farmers, teachers, street sweepers and other early-morning workers.

The activation reaped positive results for the brand. • Film has 4 million views to date • 99% positive sentiments • 25 million impressions • 19.5 million netizens reached • 19 million PHP in earned media values • Contributed to 15% increase in breakfast sales (February 2016 vs March 2016)

Target Market Broad middle to upper-class Filipinos, aged 20 and up, typically employed or self-employed. Fast food goes hand-in-hand with the busy nature of their days. They comprise bulk of the netizens in the Philippines, the “social media capital of the world”. They appreciate feel-good stories and express positive sentiments accordingly. Target Media McDonald’s believes that positive news is the most share-worthy. For speedy sharing, we seeded the video through social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube). PR Planning and Approach News about the video was shared with top local networks and was run on primetime news moments before the film’s exclusive online release, creating anticipation. While the video was the campaign’s highlight, it was but a part of a bigger story. Following National Breakfast Day, more local stores reached out to over 40,000 hard-working early-morning workers like farmers, street sweepers and teachers in their communities, cheering them up with McDonald’s breakfast.