Founded in 1940 in the United States, McDonald’s has grown from a single drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, to the world’s largest chain of fast-food restaurants, serving over 69 million customers daily across 100 countries. This iconic brand, characterized by its Golden Arches, has not just defined the fast-food industry but has also constantly evolved to keep pace with changing customer tastes and preferences.
In Switzerland, McDonald’s embarked on its culinary journey in 1976 when it opened its first restaurant in Geneva. Over the years, the Swiss McDonald’s outlets have differentiated themselves by integrating local tastes and sourcing Swiss quality ingredients, ensuring a unique blend of global and local experiences for their customers. Today, with numerous outlets across the country, McDonald’s Switzerland stands as a testament to the brand’s adaptability and commitment to the Swiss market.
As McDonald’s Switzerland prepared to open a new branch in Winterthur in April 2022, the primary challenge was ensuring an immediate and strong footfall. The goal was not just to inform customers of the new opening but to turn them into loyal clients from the beginning to ensure consistent visitors. Beyond traditional billboard advertising, which in today’s world is less and less effective, there was a pressing need for a digital solution that would offer more value.
Since previous attempts to use digital advertising have been fairly expensive, McDonalds Switzerland was additionally aiming to reduce their current CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) from CHF5. Lastly, in the era of data-driven decisions, McDonald’s wanted to accurately measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, ensuring they received the maximum return on their investment and truly resonated with their target demographic.
For their new opening in Winterthur, Mcdonald’s decided to test gamification and implement it into their marketing strategy. Collaborating with Brame, they crafted a digital version of the timeless scratch card, a game familiar to many. Unlike traditional, in real-life distributed scratch cards, this digital version had a much wider reach as it was seamlessly integrated into McDonald’s social media channels, making it easily accessible to the brand’s vast online audience. Players would engage by virtually scratching off the card, with the objective of revealing three matching pictures in a row to win one of the three instant prizes: a McFlurry, a Cheeseburger, or a Cheese McMuffin.
The intelligent move in this strategy was two-fold. Firstly, the prizes were exclusive to the new Winterthur location, a clever tactic to enhance in-store footfall at the newly opened store. Secondly, by offering complimentary items, McDonald’s not only motivated winners to visit but also leveraged the potential of upselling. With customers more inclined to purchase additional products alongside their free prize, the digital scratch card campaign aimed to drive footfall to the new outlet in Winterthur, and simultaneously drive up the average basket size.
McDonald’s Switzerland’s strategic decision to create a gamified marketing campaign brought upon impressive results. Compared to previous digital marketing campaigns which had a CPM of 5.00 CHF, this innovative approach reduced the CPM by a notable 2.14 CHF. Furthermore, engagement metrics were exceptional: a staggering 95% of all visitors to the landing page completed the game.
But the success didn’t end online. Every second winner made their way to the new Winterthur branch to redeem their prize, significantly boosting in-store footfall. This in-person engagement had a domino effect: customers frequently made additional purchases to redeem their free game-won item when they arrived. This pattern not only increased the average basket size but also substantially uplifted sales over the three-week campaign duration. McDonald’s Switzerland expressed immense satisfaction with both the increased number of visitors and the sales uplift, marking the campaign as a resounding success.
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Schedule a live demo with one of our product specialists at your convenience.
We can learn about your requirements, answer questions, and review ways Brame can help your organization to achieve your goals and engage with your audience.
Please submit your information below and we will be in touch shortly to set up a live demo.
