Ljubljana’s treasure hunt for McDonald’s easter eggs

Insight

Game developers and programmers often include so-called "easter eggs" in their games. Secrets in the form of messages, special scenes, credits or references to other iconic games. For programmers, this is often their signature or secret contribution, which players discover only to add to the experience.

These secrets can be translated into virtually any medium and gamers love them!

Solution

The campaign served as an extension of McDonald's long-term advertising campaign "Chicken for All" to show that their chicken really is for everyone - including gamers!

That is why we gamified the digital citylight (and other) posters to promote the McDonald's app with communication curated and targeted primarily to gamers.

LEVEL 1: pixelated chicken

In the follow-up to the "Chicken for All" campaign, the McDonald's chicken dishes on the posters took on a new look with unique, pixelated shapes. Using pixelated forms, we evoked nostalgic memories in older gamers by reminding them of the 2D games of their youth while also captivating the younger population, who associated the visual with the gaming sensation Minecraft and similar games.

LEVEL 2: prize hunt

We didn't stop with the unique look of the poster; each product image also contained iconic elements of gaming culture: the so-called "easter eggs".

In the gaming world, these are known as secret pieces of media that developers hide in video games in the form of text, images, special scenes, hints to other works and so on; in the McDonald's campaign, the players found them in the form of QR codes.

But there was a catch: Just as we don't always win when we play games, the QR codes on the posters didn't always guarantee a victory. Instead, some hidden "easter eggs" took certain players to a landing page where they were ambushed by a "game over" and a prompt to try their luck again in the "Burger Crush" game in the McDonald's app. In contrast, the winning QR codes led other players aka the lucky ones to a sweet prize – a free McDonald's meal voucher!

The gamified campaign proves that gaming marketing does not have to be tied to the game or the product within it but can tap into this unique community with relevant communication that integrates popular elements of the vast gaming culture.