Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

McDonald’s was launching their new Crispy Thighs, a fried bone-in-chicken (BIC) product in Hong Kong. In order to do so, we had to overcome two perception challenges: • McDonald’s was known purely for burgers • KFC was the dominant player in the fried chicken category Though our research showed we had a superior product to KFC, we needed to generate mass trial and awareness as early as possible. This case shows how we utilized an activation that took the town by surprise, and in turn generated product trial on a large scale.

Background

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES: We needed consumers to know that our new chicken product was not a fad, or that we were simply latching onto a trend. So, we set out to meet ambitious goals on both the launch and overall campaign sales. All objectives were based on benchmarks related to our previously launched chicken product, the McWings. 1. Total units sold after launch period (10 days): 0.5 million 2. Total units sold after campaign (2 months): 4 million 3. Overall QSR share: 1% increase 4. Overall Bone-In-Chicken share: 15% (from previously 0) BRAND OBJECTIVES: With BIC fried chicken representing a new permanent menu item, we also had high hopes for it to help drive brand scores in QSR’s most significant two areas: 1. Increase brand metrics for ‘Menu Variety’ by 2% vs. prior to the campaign 2. Increase brand metrics for ‘Taste of Food’ by 5% vs. prior to the campaign

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Introducing “M Chicken”; we transformed a popular McDonald’s outlet into a chicken-only store to re-enforce the message that we have now become chicken experts. From uniforms to signage to menu boards and even social media, everything adopted the new M Chicken motif. The store itself also stopped selling burgers; to show how serious we were about our chicken, our iconic McDonald’s menu only sold chicken, chicken, and nothing else but chicken.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

McWings, already one of McDonald’s most popular products, was a strong way-in to communicate our chicken credentials. Customers repeatedly had told us that they preferred our McWings over other chicken products in the market. Specifically, we discovered that they appreciated our product’s juiciness, while complaining about KFC chicken being dry. So, with our new fried chicken using the exact same recipe as the McWings, just in a bigger, even juicier, bone-in-chicken format, we quickly realized that our chicken expertise in Hong Kong has been one of the city’s best kept secrets. And we decided to create a campaign that would take the city literally by surprise – what if McDonald’s suddenly turned into a Chicken Restaurant?

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

For one day, we transformed and rebranded one of the most popular McDonald’s outlets into M Chicken. During the transformation, we changed our uniforms, signage, digital menu boards, logo branding and in-store design all into M Chicken, unveiling a store that ONLY sold our new Crispy Thighs chicken. No burgers; just chicken. We even changed our social channels and website to reflect this rebrand, driving huge word-of-mouth towards the transformed store. We also trained our staff and refitted the restaurant to deliver against what we knew would be high demand, and encouraged customers to talk about us on social media, which allowed us to drive full capacity through the entire activation.

List the results (30% of vote)

The campaign was a major success, representing one of the biggest new product launches in McDonald’s Hong Kong’s history. Business Results: • Over 1 million pieces of Crispy Thighs sold within the first 10 days • Over 5 million products sold after campaign (2 months) • Overall QSR share increase: 2.7% • Overall BIC Share: 20% (from previously 0) Brand Results • ‘Menu Variety’ increased by 2.6% • ‘Taste of Food’ was lifted by 31.7%