Opportunity
Find a compelling way to drive sales, guest counts, and digital engagement from a successful long-standing program.
Boosting the momentum of a long-standing program
Approach
Our research showed that guests were getting tired of collecting duplicate game stamps. With the intent of driving renewed excitement in stamp collecting, we gave every game stamp additional value online.
Outcome
Within tms’s digital experience we introduced the Bonus Chest. With every 5 game stamps entered, the Bonus Chest unlocked up to 8 exclusive partner discounts. We continued to exceed sales, guests counts, and check benchmarks from the previous year. Additionally, the game website continues to see high engagements with all aspects of the game.
Results
2.6
Million
visitors
13%
YoY
visitor growth
11
Million
code entries
5%
YoY
code entry growth
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tms launches “Raise your Arches” campaign in the McDonald’s app
tms launches “Raise your Arches” campaign in the McDonald’s app
Fancy a McDonald’s? An invitation to McDonald’s is so universally understood, it can be communicated without uttering a single word. Sometimes a simple eyebrow raise is all it takes.
Asked to create a campaign that complements the film “Raise your Arches” developed by Leo Burnett, tms got to work in translating the fun and excitement of this TV Ad to the app experience through an interactive offer reveal mechanic. Over a backdrop of soundtrack “Oh Yeah” by Yello, this activation drives further engagement in the McDonald’s app, our team crafted and executed the concept, digital design and build for this in-app activation.
From 16th through to 29th January, UK McDonald’s app users can ‘raise the arches’ of the two main characters from the TV ad to be awarded with a mouth-watering food offer for redeeming the same day.
“Raise Your Arches is such an excellent campaign idea — we couldn’t wait to get started on the App Sales Promo to support it. Leveraging strong campaign insights, we kept the app concept simple so customers can reveal offers quickly and ask each other… ‘Fancy a McDonald’s?’” said Gemma Downing, Account Director at tms.
This program has been featured in:
– The Drum
– Ad Gully
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‘Twas the SZN of Sharing at McDonald’s!
There was no better way to usher in the holiday season than with sharing! We were thrilled to help launch SZN of Sharing in the McDonald’s app — a first-of-its-kind holiday offer — last month.
Our team worked alongside McDonald’s agency partners to bring SZN of Sharing to the US market from December 5 to 25, including an Appstakes, exclusive access to merchandise for purchase, and food offers for participating McDonald’s customers. We also amplified the campaign via retail elements and festive SZN of Sharing packaging.
During two different drops on December 7 and 14, fans had the opportunity to secure exclusive merch via Golden Arches Unlimited. The first featured Chicken McNuggets stockings, McDonald’s Dream Order PJs, a McDonald’s AM Wrapper Hoodie, a PM Wrapper Hoodie in Egg McMuffin or Cheeseburger prints, and a puzzle featuring your favorite McDonald’s dipping sauces. We partnered with Diamond Supply Co.® on the second drop of Hamburglar graphic tees, hoodies, and beanies.
Most notably, we brought customers not only daily deals on fan-favorite menu items but also the chance to win a rare “McGold Card.” Three lucky winners will receive a card that they can use to access “McDonald’s for Life”* as well as three additional McGold Cards to give to three of their closest friends.
“A program that leveraged so many of our teams to drive results, SZN of Sharing is a fantastic example of the ‘Power of And’ that emphasizes our commitment to continuously building and solidifying our partnership with McDonald’s,” said Brooke Bohannon, VP Account Director, tms.
*McDonald’s For Life reflects two meals/week for 50 years. No Purchase is Necessary to enter/win a prize. A Purchase Will Not Improve Chances of Winning. McDonald’s for Life Appstakes begins 12/5/22 and ends 12/25/22. Open to residents of the 50 U.S./DC, 16+ only. Must be opted into the My McDonald’s Rewards program. To enter without making a purchase, see Official Rules at McDonaldsforLifeSweeps.com for the Entry link and details. Limit 1 entry/day. Void where prohibited. Odds of winning depend on the number of Entries received for the applicable drawing.
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Cactus Plant Flea Market, McDonald’s, and tms launch Artist Residency Program
On October 3, McDonald’s launched its new program, Artist Residency, which offers rotating designers the chance to reimagine McDonald’s most iconic menu items. Each designer is given the opportunity to transform an everyday trip into a one-of-a-kind experience for multicultural youth tastemakers.
As one of the hottest streetwear brands today, Cactus Plant Flea Market (CPFM) were the perfect brand to kickstart the program, offering grown ups a nostalgic box and the chance to collect limited edition collectibles.
CPFM is owned by Cynthia Lu — in a game dominated by male designers, Lu is in her own genre — and beloved by influencers for the unique range of characters that grace its designs. It’s these characters that are brought to life as collectible figurines.
Developed in tandem with Wieden + Kennedy, tms (formerly The Marketing Store) and HAVI took the lead on developing all retail and omnichannel assets, as well as the execution of the collectibles from creation to distribution strategy.
Historically, programs of this size tend to be delivered by siloed teams focused solely on their specific areas. However, we were able to leverage the collective expertise across tms (formerly The Marketing Store) and HAVI to create a more succinct process and successful outcome.
“Artist Residency allowed tms (formerly The Marketing Store) and HAVI to showcase how truly ingrained we are in the McDonald’s ecosystem. Whether it be Supply Chain planning, OPNAD resourcing or Retail Premium production, our system expertise was on full display and integral to the success of the program,” said Devin Hauser, SVP of Client Engagement, McDonald’s Americas and North America Regional Lead at tms (formerly The Marketing Store).
Trending
BTS Meal, Saweetie Meal, Macca’s MONOPOLY win big at McDonald’s 2022 Feel-Good Marketing Awards
Since 2019, McDonald’s has celebrated creative excellence across their Global Marketing System through the Feel-Good Marketing Awards. With over 300 submissions across 11 categories, we were proud to see several programs that our teams worked on receive awards this year.
Brand Affinity
Gold | Famous Orders: BTS & Saweetie Meals (US)
Silver | Reindeer Ready
Deliciousness
Silver | Fan Truth Highlight Reel 2.0
Integrated Campaign: Media & Creative
Gold | Famous Orders: The BTS Meal
Bronze | Reindeer Ready
Performance Marketing
Gold | Famous Orders: The Mariah Menu
Data Driven Activation
Bronze | Macca’s MONOPOPLY — Game On!
Grand Prix
Famous Orders: The BTS Meal
We’re particularly proud to be one of the agency teams who worked on the Grand Prix winner — The BTS Meal. This fan favorite program was a great example of a campaign that sparked meaningful connections with customers and reinforced brand love in new ways.
Jim Eby, Chief Creative Officer, McDonald’s Americas at tms (formerly The Marketing Store) said, “What an incredible honor to see our programs acknowledged at this year’s McDonald’s Feel-Good Marketing Awards. I am so proud to be a part of several winning campaigns and teams across tms — as we continue to deliver best-in-class creativity that is being recognized by our clients, partner agencies and most of all, our consumers. tms continues to be a major contributor in building the McDonald’s brand and accelerating growth through strengthening connections with our multi-cultural youth consumers.
Congratulations to all the short list nominees and winners! A special shout-out to the Grand Prix Winner, Famous Orders: The BTS Meal teams around the world who made this program a global success.”
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Boosting brand love with an exciting promotion
Opportunity
Noticing a pattern of decreasing visits to its restaurants during the month of October, McDonald’s wanted to introduce a month-long program that would tempt customers back. We made it our objective to turn that around by crafting an experience that drove guest counts, reinvigorated sales, and boosted brand affinity.
Approach
tms put a new twist on the standard sweepstakes promotion with an exciting Halloween campaign that drove guests back into stores.
Outcome
We developed a bold program called “Trick. Treat. Win!” which leveraged a timely Halloween theme and a chance at instant-win prizes to delight customers. And for the first time ever, our program gave customers the opportunity to choose the prizes they won. As well as owning the campaign strategy, our creative identity featured across stores, digital channels, and the campaign packaging.
Results
1.3
Billion
sweepstakes entries
4.1
Million
app downloads
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Trick or eat…if you dare!
Trick or eat? You make the choice in our latest digital promotion on the McDonald’s app, Trick or Eat…If You Dare. From October 25th-31st, tms (formerly The Marketing Store) is bringing tricks and treats alike, and even giving customers the chance to win a Gold Card!
During the week leading up to Halloween, users will have the chance to engage with haunted tap-to-reveal doors in the app. Each day will feature a new door with a unique spooky design and character. Select ‘Trick’ and you’ll be taking a risk but could reap bigger rewards — winners will receive one free McDonald’s meal per week for a year. Customers can also play it safe, avoid the extra fright, and receive a bite, a food offer on core menu items, if they choose ‘Eat’ instead.
“We all love trick or treating at Halloween but when it comes down to it, we tend to fall into two types of people. The ones that get delight from a quick fright and the ones that take flight and cower away. This idea plays with that hypothesis, testing people’s daring nature and rewarding them with a spookily delicious daily choice. Question is… will they dare for a fright or play it safe with a bite?” said Stephen Bushe, Executive Creative Director, McDonald’s at tms (formerly The Marketing Store).
We love any chance to bring a scarily-good new campaign to McDonald’s customers and to drive digital engagement.
Trending
tms’s MONOPOLY promotion at McDonald’s is back, doubling gameplay and fun!
McDonald’s MONOPOLY — the UK’s biggest prize promotion — is back for its 16th year! tms (formerly The Marketing Store) and McDonald’s are ramping up the excitement by giving customers even more of what they love with the new Double Peel from September 7 until October 18.
Customers have always loved the on-pack peel; however this year, instead of peeling to reveal a potential loss, Double Peel offers more chances to win, making this year’s MONOPOLY bigger and better than ever. The game transforms customers’ phones into a MONOPOLY gameboard, allowing them to collect their properties digitally. Players can still peel the label on their promotional food item for a potential Instant Win, but now they can also scan a property code to complete sets and win in the app and progress with every peel. Every property banked offers players another chance to win.
Players will receive 1 of 4 outcomes from the Digital Peel: the Property Peel to add properties to their collection, the Prize Draws Peel for another chance to win, the Cash Peel with cash prizes between £5-£100, and the Community Chest Peel for instant win prizes such as must-have McDonald’s merchandise, menu favourites, and more!
And it gets better… both new and existing customers who are signed up to My McDonald’s Rewards will also receive a FREE code via email to play.
tms (formerly The Marketing Store) developed the McDonald’s MONOPOLY Double Peel campaign strategy, game mechanic, visual identity, packaging, digital gameplay and language, including the campaign strapline ‘PEEL on pack, then PEEL in app’. As peeling is at the heart of the gameplay, the packaging features peeling devices to tempt, tease, and inspire consumers to get peeling. We also created a suite of peel assets that are being used in other media channels.
McDonald’s MONOPOLY Double Peel is supported by an above-the-line campaign developed by Leo Burnett, media planning and buying by OMD, experiential OOH activation from Leo Burnett, Red, and Tommy, and emails and push notifications were created by CRM agency Armadillo.
Emma O’Neill, Senior Brand Manager at McDonald’s, said: “By extending our popular MONOPOLY promotion at McDonald’s into a more immersive app experience, we’ve not only given customers additional ways to play, we’ve also built a wider, longer-term engagement in the game over the 6-week period – along with more ways to win. Doubling the fun for everyone.”
Stephen Bushe, Executive Creative Director, McDonald’s International at tms (formerly The Marketing Store), said: “This is not just the normal brilliant MONOPOLY we all know and love, McDonald’s MONOPOLY Double Peel is a real game changer. With its built-in fusion of physical and digital play, the new Double-Peel mechanic will, for the first time, take you from the pack to the app to continue playing, winning, and collecting, via our first ever digital peel and digital property collection wallet.”
Stephanie Storey, Group Account Director at tms (formerly The Marketing Store) said: “We set out to out-MONOPOLY MONOPOLY by inspiring customers to double down on what they love and brought it to life with a campaign that magnifies the double feel-good feeling of the peel in a fun and engaging way.”
This first appeared in:
Little Black Book — https://www.lbbonline.com/news/the-marketing-stores-monopoly-promotion-at-mcdonalds-returns-for-its-16th-year
Marketing Communication News — https://marcommnews.com/the-marketing-stores-monopoly-promotion-at-mcdonalds-is-back-doubling-gameplay-and-fun-making-it-bigger-and-better-than-ever/
Trending
Pokémon Happy Meal® is back by popular demand!
Our global program gives kids and families worldwide the opportunity to collect their favorite Pokémon characters and master the game.
We created a unique gaming experience exclusive to Happy Meal® through sustainable toy design and execution, POP signage and packaging designs, and amplification across happymeal.com, which will feature additional activities.
Each Happy Meal® will include four trading cards, a spinner, a coin, and instructions on how to play. With 15 exclusive to McDonald’s trading cards to collect, including 6 shiny foils and 12 different versions of the spinner, coin, and toy packaging, all featuring hero Pokémon characters.
“We are always excited to bring the successful Pokémon program to market. We know kids go crazy for the trading cards, and this time we have introduced a new Match Battle game experience! Due to the magnitude of this program, it’s a truly global effort to make it happen, a big thanks and recognition has to go out to all those involved,” said Geoff Smyrk, VP Global Creative Director at tms (formerly The Marketing Store).
Notably, this is a sustainable toy program, with all premium elements made entirely of fiber or of green polyethylene, depending on the local market. It’s an important step toward McDonald’s larger Happy Meal® sustainability goals, which we’re proud to support.
The Pokémon Happy Meal® is a true demonstration of our ability to execute campaigns on a global scale and adapt elements for different regions, with the packaging and POP signage varying to meet local marketing needs and still encourage a collaborative, gamified experience.
The Pokémon Happy Meal® rolled out August 2nd in the United Kingdom, August 9th in the United States and Canada, and is coming this September in Australia.
Trending
Bringing Camp McDonald’s to life
McDonald’s, its partners, and tms (formerly The Marketing Store) recently launched a four-week U.S. summer campaign full of menu hacks and access to exclusive merch and concert series. Throughout July, customers who made a purchase of $1 or more in the McDonald’s App using Mobile Order and Pay had camp access.
Our team led the digital experience aspect of this program, making it possible for customers to purchase exclusive merchandise, like camp-themed apparel, Innisfree products and more, and attend the exclusive virtual concerts with blackbear, Omar Apollo, BIBI, and Kid Cudi. Our technology products powered the connection between the App and partner sites where customers purchase the merch items. To promote the campaign and drive customers to the App to participate, we also created the in-store and outdoor POP elements.
But that’s not all, Boxer Brand Design — our embedded branding and packaging agency — designed the carryout bags and cups tied to the program. These leverage the campaign’s overall look and feel while also driving customers to the App for camp access.
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