BYE, BYE BALLOONS. LONG LIVE BALLOONS!

TitleBYE, BYE BALLOONS. LONG LIVE BALLOONS!
BrandMCDONALD'S
Product/ServiceBALLOONS
Category G03. New Realities & Voice Activation
Entrant NORD DDB Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation NORD DDB Stockholm, SWEDEN
Media Placement OMD Stockholm, SWEDEN
PR PRIME WEBER SHANDWICK Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production DVA Stockholm, SWEDEN
Credits
Name Company Position
Andreas Dahlqvist NORD DDB Chief Creative Officer
Petter Dixelius NORD DDB Copywriter
Joel Ekstrand NORD DDB Art Director
Jens Welin NORD DDB Senior Client Director
Edith Sundberg NORD DDB Graphic Designer
Sofie Hammers NORD DDB Social Media Strategist
Jeanette Ytterman NORD DDB Senior Client Manager
Stina Nyberg NORD DDB Client Manager
Victor Söderblom NORD DDB Digital Client Manager
Christoffer Åhlund Nord DDB Digital Client Director
Jonas Eriksson Nord DDB Content Creative
Jesper Andersson Nord DDB Communication Planning
Daniel Liljas Nord DDB Graphic Designer
Anna Lisspers Nord DDB Printbuyer
Kristin Åkerlund Nord DDB PR

Background

Situation: As a step in reducing single use items in the restaurants, McDonald’s Sweden decided to remove their iconic balloons once and for all. Brief: But kids love balloons, so how do we communicate this as something positive and fun? Objectives: Make people feel that it is positive that McDonald's stops handing out balloons.

Describe the strategy

We replaced the balloons with an engaging and fun AR experience, accessible thru the McDonald’s app. The main target audience was families with kids in the Happy Meal age. The AR game was built using 8th Wall's WebAR platform and designed for kids (2-7 yrs). It revolves around popping as many balloons as possible within a given time frame. We launched “The next generation of balloons” with a 360° campaign completely centered around the mobile AR experience.

Describe the execution

We launched the campaign in the second week of September 2020. Nationwide OOH, DOOH, print, TVC/OLV, audio, influencer activations and McDonald's own channels (SoMe, restaurant screens, kiosks, app, website) all promoted the AR experience. The campaign ran for four weeks and was McDonald's Swedens biggest campaign of the year.

List the results

+170 000 unique players the first three weeks. +450 000 games started +3 min average gaming time 0% balloon littering 9 tons of reduced plastics per year (balloon sticks) +200 000 000 earned media reach 7/10 think that it is good or great that McDonald's has stopped handing out balloons (Ipsos). Sales increased by +0,5%* compared to the same period 2019 and +7% compared to the same period 2018. *Even though many restaurants close earlier due to Covid 19.