Sydney’s contribution to McDonald’s imlovinit 24 campaign on Tuesday March 24 was a seven metre wide coffee cup filled with balls for people to dive into. Because of the world’s time zones, Sydney kicked off the one day global campaign, in which McDonald’s staged “24 gifts of joy. In 24 cities. Over 24 hours.
In the Philippines, a toll booth was turned into a McDonald’s drive-thru that handed out free breakfasts. McDonald’s hosted a pyjama party in Italy.
Jessie J hosted a surprise concert on a double decker bus in London.
So whose was the Best imlovinit 24 event? Stockholm’s. There, McDonald’s launched a lifestyle collection of Big Mac-patterned items at its fashion show, McWalk, at the Gallerian Shopping Mall. Items available in the online collection include a set of thermals, originally designed for McDonald’s sponsorship of the Swedish Alpine and Cross Country Ski Team, Big Mac wallpaper and Big Mac bed linen. A Big Mac raincoat, Big Mac wellingtons and Big Mac dog coat will be available soon. Profits will be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities.
The global campaign ended in the US with a free concert by Ne-YO who singing a “Lovin’ anthem composed of crowdsourced lyrics”.
The global campaign had a big job to do. On January 23, the world’s largest hamburger chain announced falling global profits for the fourth successive quarter and a 14% decline in annual profits to $4.7bn. January also marked the eighth straight month of global sales declines. It replaced its chief executive that month.
February sales declined 1.7% globally and 4.0% in the US. McDonald’s hasn’t reported a positive sales quarter in burgerland and its home ground, the US, since third quarter 2013 and that was only 0.7%.
So it has changed its marketing outlook. The aim now is for McDonald’s to evolve into more of a content producer rather than just an advertiser that buys massive amounts of traditional media.
“We have to try different things. Some thing work out well, some don’t. Part of our culture of continuous improvement, and with this we’re trying new methods we’ve never tried before,” McDonald’s senior director-global brand development, Matt Biespiel, noted.
Many of the company’s ad agencies were involved: Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett, Omnicom’s TBWA and DDB, among them. TBWA’s New York office was team captain.
