Objectives/Brief  
Organisational objectives: 

• Increase sales of McDonald’s newly improved beef burgers 
• Thank internal audiences for delivering a significant logistical challenge 

Communications objectives: 

• Drive belief that McDonald’s beef burgers are now tastier in order to retain existing beef burger fans, attract new / lapsed customers and engage McDonald’s staff 

Our objectives were clearly defined with SMART KPIs set: 

• Desired outputs – land widespread positive editorial and social coverage delivering key messages around the changes to the burgers  
• Desired outtakes – strong engagement with campaign messaging, views of content and recall of key messages  
• Desired outcomes – belief from audiences that McDonald’s beef burgers are now tastier  
• Desired business impact – increase download/use the McDonald’s App, increased sales of the burgers  

Strategy  

Target audiences were defined, and a channel strategy agreed to ensure we reached: 

• Existing beef burger fans 
• New / lapsed customers 
• Internal staff 

 Messaging was agreed. To articulate the new ‘Best Burger’ improvements we needed to: 

• Land the ‘Mmm’ – establish the delicious new taste 
• Make the ‘Mmm’ – reveal the food quality and kitchen changes behind the taste 
• Experience the ‘Mmm’ – drive engagement via sales and app sign-ups 

Hosting a sensorial event for VIPs, the public and staff would allow visitors to ‘taste’ the improvements for themselves. It would deliver multiple touch points to reach target audiences including: 

• Influencer  
• Owned social channels  
• Editorial 
• CRM  – email & app 
• OOH  
• In restaurant advertising

We worked with numerous evaluation suppliers to develop a robust measurement programme. We needed to show direct change – i.e. this event and content was genuinely driving belief that the burgers were tastier – and therefore driving trust in the brand. To do this, we needed detailed qualitative research of event attendees which interrogated their understanding of the burger changes and how this impacted their trust in the brand. 

We needed to demonstrate the value of an immersive experience against core marketing objectives. We needed to prove that the creative could deliver across multiple touchpoints and generate ROI – ultimately driving sales and people into restaurants to try the new Best Burger.

Execution/ Implementation  

A robust measurement and evaluation structure was put in place with data sources agreed including: 

• Media coverage – sentiment, key message delivery 
• Social coverage – sentiment, engagement 
• Influencer content – follower reach, engagement, views 
• McDonald’s app – new downloads & increased usage  
• Loyalty – rewards point redemption 
• Qual audience surveys – attendees of events 
• Event attendance –  numbers & relative influence 
• Internal/stakeholder feedback – crew & management Guest count (visits to local restaurants) 
• Sales figures  

We worked with an external research and evaluation company to hold quantitative face–to–face surveys with event attendees. The questionnaire included questions on all areas of the campaign linked to our objectives. 

When testing the understanding of the process changes, visitors were asked to recall the process changes and then against a control statement.  The research found: 

• When unprompted, two-thirds (62%) of people could recall at least one change made to the new best burgers. 
• When prompted, all process changes came through as they were significantly better understood than the control statement.
• The campaign strongly communicated core brand metrics of trust, quality and freshness.
• The campaign was successful in encouraging trial among the majority with two-thirds of visitors saying they were now more likely to try the burgers. 
• The call-to-action of the campaign in using the Rewards points was strong – with 72% of existing Rewards users more likely to use My McDonald’s rewards in the future after seeing the campaign.  
• 30% of all attendees quizzed on the burger changes scored 7/7.  
• 53% agreed that McDonald’s has made improvements to its classic beef burgers. 
• Two thirds said they’d tell friends, family and colleagues. 

Effectiveness of Assignment  

The campaign met or exceeded all KPIs.  

 Results vs objectives: 

 OUTPUTS: Land widespread editorial and social coverage to raise awareness of the changes:  

• 233 earned media articles with OTS of 16m 
• 5,000 members of the public visited 
• 400 VIPs attended 
• Almost 400 crew members, rewards members, and staff experienced the event  
• Follow up internal content reached 60,000+ crew 
• Social sentiment / SOV for McDonald’s Burger increased by 10% 
• 98% positive sentiment of editorial coverage 
• 100% inclusion of campaign imagery 
• 81% of editorial outlined full experience with all sections / changes showcased on the consumer day 
• 87% of editorial outlined McDonald’s  in the first paragraph

OUT-TAKES: Strong engagement with campaign messaging, views of content & recall of key messages: 

• 3 million views of content – 4% engagement 
• 100% attendees enjoyed their experience 
• Visitors most likely to recall onions at the grill – 87% recall when prompted – followed by changes made to the patties (37%) and lettuce (31%) 

OUTCOMES: Belief from audiences that McDonald’s beef burgers are now tastier:  

• 58% of visitors said some variation on ‘tasty’ about their experience 
• 30% of all attendees quizzed on the burger changes scored 7/7  
• 53% agreed that McDonald’s has made improvements to its classic beef burgers 
• 62% could taste at least one flavour change 
• Two thirds said they were likely to try the new burgers  
• Two thirds said they’d tell friends, family and colleagues 

BUSINESS IMPACT: Increase download/use the McDonald’s App, increased sales of the burgers 

• 87% of irregular McDonald’s app users said they would be more likely to use the app and MyRewards Point in future 
• Over 10% NEW customer downloads of the app at the event 
• Significant increase in sales on day 1 (50%) above projection