EventStream: McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It 24”

18 May

From experiential and guerrilla marketing to viral campaigns and pop-ups, EventStream is where we comment on the events that have caught our eye from across the world. Today, we’re looking at McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It 24 campaign”.

 

We’re Lovin’ It – McDonald’s 24 gifts in 24 cities in 24 hours.

Fast food lover or not, you’d need to have lived in a cave to not recognize the McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it” campaign. This year however, McDonald’s upped the ante on their global marketing success with a fresh idea, pumped with creativity and innovation.

 

The Concept

The idea behind the global campaign was to bring people together across the world. The scale of each of the 24 events was certainly impressive, requiring a lot of creative and logistic effort; to organise them all on the same day is pretty mind-blowing.

 

The Campaign

On March 24 2015, McDonald’s launched the impressive “I’m lovin’ It 24 campaign that got the whole world talking about them. The campaign idea sounds simple: 24 gifts in 24 cities over the course of 24 hours — but it was highly ambitious. While it may sound pretty feasible, it becomes a bit more difficult when these “gifts” involve building huge, fun-filled arenas, such as giant ball pits, slot machines, mazes and pop-up photo booths.

“I’m lovin’ it 24” was McDonald’s biggest marketing concept since the initial “I’m lovin’ it” campaign. After experiencing a slump in profits, the fast food chain decided that it was time to try something radical. They wanted to do something which was less about traditional advertising and more about giving something back. The campaign was intended to show their appreciation and reward the loyalty of McDonald’s’ customers with a global day of joy.

Matt Biespiel, director of global brand development at McDonald’s, summed up the premise of the campaign to Advertising Age: “We have to try different things. Some [things] work out well, some don’t. [It’s] part of our culture of continuous improvement, and with this we’re trying new methods we’ve never tried before.”

 

The Highlight

It’s hard to pick a highlight from such a massively successful campaign. However, one of the most entertaining “gifts” came from the slot machine in Rio de Janeiro.

The slot machine was activated by pressing a single button, which then gave the person a chance to win a delicious McDonald’s treat. They would have to perform a simple task, such as taking a selfie or dancing at the command of the machine. If the task was completed, the person would be awarded a redeemable coupon in the form of an ice cube. The game still wasn’t over, as they would then have to dash to their nearest McDonald’s in order to redeem their ice coupon; a whole new meaning to fast food!

 

 

The Result

Social media was the central impact gauge for the campaign, with both online impressions and interactions meticulously monitored. Over 40,000 people mentioned #imlovinit on social media on March 24th — 850 times more than the daily average.

The campaign ended with a Ne-Yo concert, in which the R&B singer performed a song composed of crowd-sourced lyrics about the “Lovin’” day. This performance alone gained 1.2million online impressions.


 

Each of these 24 events had their own unique staffing logistics, and whether you’re planning on going global or keeping things local, contact us to find out how we can help you find the perfect promotional staff for your next event.