The Campaign

We zeroed in on retirement as the path that leads to a new day in one’s life. In the Philippines, all public school teachers are required to retire when they reach 65 years old—regardless of tenure, rank, or capacity to teach. Mrs. Luzviminda Santiago will soon reach that mandatory retirement age. She feels sad and laments that she won’t be able to interact with her students anymore. So on National Breakfast Day, McDonald’s surprised her with a breakfast reunion with her former students in the school where they all first met. Her former students are now accomplished professionals. She takes pride in their achievements. This gives her strength to face her ‘new day’. We encapsulated her retirement story and the reunion on film and posted it on social media to amplify National Breakfast Day.

Execution

Days before National Breakfast Day, announcement and news about McDonald’s free breakfast was seeded to various networks and media sites. On the day itself, in the early morning of March 13, various members of the press covered the event in almost 500 restaurants nationwide. An exclusive press-only preview of the film was conducted. News about the video was shared with top local networks. Hours after the film’s online release, McDonald’s was featured on various news sites. The film was talked about on primetime news, generating additional reach. Digital ambassadors shared the film, generating further mileage. Following National Breakfast Day, features on various front pages and news sites were published.

Top 3 in Ad Age Viral Video Chart Ad of the Week on The Drum 22.1M views and counting 158.8M online impressions 22.5M netizens reached Over 421.7K interactions 100% positive sentiment on social media

The Situation

National Breakfast Day is an annual corporate undertaking of McDonald’s Philippines to celebrate the most important meal of the day. It aims to strengthen brand love with consumers. Now on its 5th year, the celebration features an annual tradition of giving out free breakfast in its stores nationwide. While consumers readily flock to the stores, the challenge is always how to amplify it to people who are not in the stores during the activation. Each year is an effort to show message consistency while strategically providing significant differentiation to engage these people so that love for the brand becomes

The Strategy

Target Audience The broad middle to upper class Filipinos aged 20 above, employed or self-employed. They are customers of fast food because of the busy nature of their days. They appreciate feel-good stories on media and express their positive sentiments accordingly. Target Media Believing that positive news is most share-worthy, McDonald’s seeded the video through social media, facilitating the speedy sharing from netizens who found the story uplifting. PR Planning & Approach In the early morning of March 13, print and online media covered National Breakfast Day at select stores nationwide. An exclusive press-only preview of the film was conducted. News about the video was shared with top local networks. Hours after the film’s online release, McDonald’s was featured on various news sites. The film was talked about on primetime news, generating additional reach. Digital ambassadors shared the film, generating further mileage. Following National Breakfast Day, features on various front pages and news