THE BOY WHO LOVES TO STUDY

TitleTHE BOY WHO LOVES TO STUDY
BrandMCDONALD'S PHILIPPINES
Product / ServiceMCDONALD'S
CategoryC02. Use of Social in a PR campaign
EntrantLEO BURNETT GROUP MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES
Idea Creation LEO BURNETT GROUP MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES
PR EON THE STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS GROUP Makati City, THE PHILIPPINES

Credits

Name Company Position
Raoul Panes Leo Burnett Group Manila Chief Creative Officer
Mela Advincula Leo Burnett Group Manila Creative Director
Spiro Barroga Leo Burnett Group Manila Art Director
Sara Sarmiento Leo Burnett Group Manila Art Director
Donny Dingcong Leo Burnett Group Manila Deputy General Manager
Judy Buenviaje Medina Leo Burnett Group Manila Group Account Director
Maik Alturas Leo Burnett Group Manila Account Director
Mary Pahati Leo Burnett Group Manila Account Executive
Paolo Villaluna Filmex Director
Concon Limbo Filmex Executive Producer
Tria Sordan Slingshot Manila Film Producer

The Campaign

We told a real-life, inspirational, non-Christmas story. One night in 2015, medical student Joyce Torrefranca took a photo of homeless boy Daniel Cabrera studying by the light of a McDonald’s store in the Philippines. Joyce shared it on her Facebook page and it immediately went viral, inspiring thousands. Her post was picked up by local and international media, spurring donations from all over the world for Daniel and his family. McDonald’s online film revisited that fateful night and how it changed the lives of Daniel and Joyce – all thanks to one photograph shared online, in an act of kindness. It also documented their touching reunion one year later. At present, Daniel is among the top 10 students of his class, and Joyce has since become a registered Medical Technologist. The narrative is simply capped by the line #ShareTheLove.

Execution

An online film about Daniel Cabrera, the homeless boy photographed studying outside a McDonald’s store in the Philippines. His photo was shared by Joyce Torrefranca, a student, on her Facebook page and went viral worldwide. The film recounts the story and their touching reunion one year later. The film was shared online via McDonald’s Philippines Facebook and YouTube pages at the onset of the Christmas holidays. Social media content featuring Daniel and Joyce were also released in the next weeks. Local and international media quickly picked up the film and expanded awareness for the campaign.

The film about the viral story went viral too, reaching over 22.8 million netizens. To date, it has racked up more than 8.65 million views on Facebook and over 2.94 million views on YouTube, exceeding 126 thousand unique shares. This generated an equivalent of 82.2 million impressions across all social media platforms. It was also rapidly picked up and cited by local news sites and international creative media sites. In a nationwide post-campaign Brand Health Monitoring study under the Eat-Out Category, the corporate imagery of McDonald’s ‘making a positive contribution to my community’ went up by 3 points among respondents. It also drove sales for the featured Chicken McShare Box, increasing units sold by 50%.

The Situation

The Philippines holds the longest Christmas celebration in the world, and McDonald’s wanted to be prominent in the consciousness of Filipinos during the season. But so did every other brand in the country. The challenge is how to battle for share of mind with numerous others that are putting out seasonal ads of their own, with almost every brand trying to tug at the heartstrings of consumers with manufactured emotional stories.

The Strategy

The country is dubbed as ‘the social media capital of the world’. McDonald’s spotted this as an opportunity to utilize the platform where online sharing is a natural reflex for people. Also, “sharing” – in the real world – is a Christmas predisposition as people are more generous and thoughtful. Latching on to rich meaning of the “sharing” term, we revived an authentic story of sharing, deeply associated with McDonald’s: a real-life, inspirational story – but devoid of Yuletide trappings.

Links

Social Media URL