OAK BROOK Ill. Hoping to boost sales by tying its products and marketing campaigns to the highly anticipated AVATAR science-fiction movie, McDonald’s is engaging customers on a number of digital and in-store promotional fronts.
Mary Dillon, global chief marketing officer for McDonald’s Corp., which operates or franchises more than 32,000 restaurants worldwide, and Neil Golden, her counterpart for the U.S., said last week during a public conference call that the campaign is “one of the most unique digital experiences we’ve ever created.”
Efforts include online contests, AVATAR toys for Happy Meals, contests for a free McDonald's lunch with a movie screening and gaming promotions.
The No. 1 burger brand would not say how much the multi-tiered campaign cost.
“We’ve invested significantly…It’s a big undertaking for our system,” was all Dillon would say when asked how much McDonald’s will spend on tie-ins to the possible blockbuster in the making. She added that the chain’s franchisees are “very excited about this.”
McDonald’s partnership with AVATAR’s makers, she added, “gives us the opportunity to bring this adventure alive in our restaurants and online with innovative technology and creativity, all at the value customers expect from us.”
Dillon and Golden were asked to explain what appears to be a fairly narrow focus for a major marketing initiative, as many campaign elements are aimed at young people, in general, and online gamers, in particular. Both replied that McDonald’s believes the movie will generate interest among a wide range of consumers, with Dillon adding that it should also appeal to a variety of age groups from “8 to 80.”
She and Golden ticked off information about multiple online activities tied to the movie, including “McD Vision.” That so-called “augmented reality experience,” or immersive high-resolution environment offering 360-degree views, is launched and manipulated using a computer web cam and one of two objects: a special “AVATAR Thrill Card” included on packaging for Big Mac sandwiches between Dec. 18 and Jan. 7, or a printout of a graphic image accessed for free at the promotion’s online microsite.
Special AVATAR-related toys for kids’ Happy Meals, which will be available in the U.S. beginning Dec. 18, are already being distributed in other countries where the movie is screening.
Though the distribution of toys and launch of the interactive www.mcdonalds.com/avatar website in the U.S. are still several days off, the domestic promotion began Dec. 7 with the launch of a “Big Mac AVATAR Code Breaker Countdown” sweepstakes on the chain’s Twitter page, http://twitter.com/McDonalds/mcdonalds.
The winner of the Twitter contest gets a Big Mac lunch and a private screening of the movie with its producer.
Among the components of the U.S. campaign that go live Dec. 18 is PandoraQuest, an online game in which players must find hidden objects within three different landscapes from the movie’s fictional planet of Pandora. In doing so, they gain “exclusive views” and ultimately become members of an “RDA Research Team,” participants in which are rewarded with bonus features from the film.
PandoraQuest players can access the game using their webcam and the graphical McD Vision key that is free online. But players wielding one of the eight Different AVATAR Thrill Cards from Big Mac boxes will have access to a greater number of game levels, which McDonald’s representatives described as a built-in incentive for hard-core gamers to buy more sandwiches.
Also accessible at the promotion’s Internet microsite as of Dec. 18 will be PandoraROVR. In this online driving simulator, players are involved in an interactive exploration of Pandora’s terrain and can capture and share with others images of their discoveries.
Dillon and Golden highlighted AVATAR-related activities in McDonald’s markets around the world, including Latin American, where restaurants are outfitted with photo backdrops putting customers side by side with larger-than-life-sized images from the movie. That market also features “augmented reality table stations,” or portable computers carried by employees through which guests can experience McD Vision while in a McDonald’s restaurant.
Australian McDonald’s restaurants are featuring a sweepstakes with hidden codes on cups and tray liners, the McDonald’s executives said. And in Europe, Dillon said, an online site lets consumers morph photos of themselves or others into images like characters in AVATAR.
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].