#MarketingExcellenceAwards SG 2021 highlights: McDonald's SG connects with fans via feel-good magic of music

Since 2019, McDonald’s has collaborated with Hershey’s for an annual takeover of its dessert range to offer consumers a chance to indulge in chocolate cravings. Past marketing efforts for McDonald’s Hershey’s typically involved on-ground activations to bring feel-good moments associating chocolate with life, and to drive product excitement. These takeovers were successful in driving strong sales results and served as a benchmark for the 2020 campaign.

However, against the backdrop of the pandemic, a majority of sales for McDonald’s desserts occurred in-store rather than through delivery. Launching the "McDonald's x Hershey's Spotify" campaign, the fast-food chain sought to tap on younger demographics who were tech-savvy. With this campaign, McDonald's impressed the judges and was awarded the gold award for the Excellence in Media Strategy category, and shortlisted as a finalist for the Excellence in Digital Marketing category at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore 2021. 

Challenges

Based on past campaigns, McDonald's realised that outdoor activations and touchpoints have been particularly effective in driving consumer engagement. However, given government regulations and reduced out-of-home movement, such channels were not as useful as compared to before. As such, McDonald's needed to find a way to deliver the feel-good promise of its Hershey’s desserts and achieve aggressive sales targets, as well as convince consumers to order desserts via new methods, in a fiercely competitive environment.

As the campaign took place post-circuit breaker, when consumer mobility was still hugely limited, McDonald's knew it needed to pivot to digital, which saw high growth, particularly amongst its audience. However, this presented its own problems. Firstly, the fast-food chain knew every other advertiser was doing the same thing, so standing out would be harder than ever. Secondly, digital ads alone were not going to bring the company's feel-good promise to life. 

Strategy 

There was something helping Singaporeans, and especially Millennials, get through the lows and highs of the pandemic. Something that helped them in moments of solitude, but also brought people together in moments of celebration and connection: music. Music streaming increased by 19% over the pandemic

There was a common trait between its key dessert attribute, brand promise and music, as well as the ability to induce dopamine hits and subsequently lift moods. This turned out to be a pivotal media strategy for the fast-food chain to launch its "Go on a Chocolicious Escape with Feel-Good Tunes and Treats" campaign. 

The campaign revolved around a Spotify playlist that featured locally, feel-good songs, songs trending in real-time, and popular songs that paid homage to the product through treat-inspired titles.

Execution 

Whilst the curated mood booster playlist was the core element of this digital campaign, the campaign also consisted of several strategic media levers to drive discoverability of this playlist, as well as feature the range of McDonald’s Hershey’s treats to encourage purchase by taking over of the Spotify homepage, making it deliciously chocolate-themed, complete with luscious dripping chocolate to drive cravings. 

Furthermore, to drive discoverability over the six-week-long campaign, McDonald's deployed audio ads to reach listeners that were tuning in to other playlists on Spotify and to further amplify visibility beyond the streaming platform. In addition, Spotify's scannable tags were utilised across paid media and owned media to drive consumers online to the playlist and to sustain awareness over the campaign period.

Lastly, to drive relevancy, McDonald's used data to identify those that would most likely need a mood boost and direct them to the playlist. Examples included those who were listening to study/exams, WFH, heartbreak, and existing mood booster playlists, among others. 

Results

Through this mood-boosting digital media strategy, McDonald’s Singapore was able to connect consumers with the feel-good magic of music and Hershey’s desserts in the year they needed it most, ultimately achieving impressive campaign and business results.

All marketing efforts went above and beyond to bring the media strategy to life in a way that would truly resonate with audiences, and not become just another music playlist. The playlist went on to achieve the "Top Branded Playlist of the Year" in Singapore, total streams for the mood booster playlist were 31 times higher than the average playlist and achieved 10 times the average playlist followers in 2020.

It was also repeated 28 times higher than the average 2020 playlist in Singapore, indicative of user retention and the positively addictive quality of songs.