MCDONALD’S EGYPT
The global fast-food giant successfully promoted its new apps in Egypt and increased ad recall by 9.6 points, thanks to Instagram video and photo ads that it ran during the African Cup of Nations football tournament.
Founded in 1940 in California, McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain by revenue, with outlets in more than 100 countries. It opened its first restaurant in Egypt in 1994, and now has more than 100 outlets in the country, making it Egypt’s most popular fast-food chain.
increase in top-of-mind awareness
increase in message association
increase in ad recall
McDonald’s Egypt wanted to draw attention to its new mobile apps and encourage customers to install them during the African Cup of Nations football tournament, for which Egypt was the host country. Egyptians are used to contacting McDonald’s restaurants by phone, so the apps represent a big change in customer behavior.
To reflect the importance of Egypt hosting Africa’s biggest international football tournament, McDonald’s creative agency FP7 created a campaign called “McDonald’s Africa Cup of Nations – When the game is on, cheer as one.”
The campaign message was that when a game is on, people should cheer for their team wherever they happen to be. Throughout the tournament, McDonald’s created a special Cheering Menu, which was available for delivery via the new McDonald’s delivery app. The app was promoted in Instagram and Facebook video ads, with a call to action to install it.
McDonald’s also developed a separate app for in-store diners, which featured football trivia questions linked to daily prizes, offers and discounts that could be claimed during the tournament. Using Instagram and Facebook to spread news of these prizes drove traffic to the app and increased the offer redemption rate.
Instagram and Facebook played a key role in McDonald’s wider campaign, which also included out-of-home, TV and other digital platforms. The short video ads were designed to grab attention, inspire hunger and encourage app installs.
The target audience was identified by interest, behavior and lifestyle, and four different ad creatives were used to reflect audience lifestyles.
The McDonald’s video campaign on Instagram and Facebook grabbed the nation’s attention and encouraged installs of its new apps. Running from June 25–July 23, 2019, it achieved:
5.5-point increase in top-of-mind awareness
4.1-point increase in message association
9.6-point increase in ad recall
