McDonald's celebrates second National Breakfast Day

Philippines get in line for free McMuffinsThousands of Filipinos flooded select McDonald's restaurants in the Philippines today for free egg McMuffins as part of its highly-anticipated annual “National Breakfast Day’ campaign.Now in its second year, over 6,000 McDonald's branches across South Africa, Middle East and Asia will simultaneously take part in the event to serve 1,000 egg McMuffins per store during breakfast hours.Long queues have formed in front of 315 stores in the island nation this Monday from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., giving away 315,000 of their iconic handheld breakfast treats for free.In total, the regional campaign will serve 6 million McMuffins on this one morning alone.Happy dinners have turned to social media to post immediate reactions and pictures about the event. The hashtag #freemcmuffin was used widely but #HoorayForToda and #NationalBreakfastDay emerged as trending topics. Notable was the participation of local celebrities, giving McDonald's viral fuel. Marketing understands that Leo Burnett Manila is handing creative duties.Andrew Hipsley, chief brand officer of McDonald’s for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, said the brand aims to show that there are affordable and convenient ways to have the most important meal of the day.“Breakfast is a significant business for McDonald’s. And we know the convenience of a hot McMuffin on-the-go makes breakfast so much more accessible for people who are often caught up in the morning rush,” he said.While the National Breakfast Day across Asia, Middle East & Africa is the first, the event was actually first executed in McDonald's Malaysia in November last year.Speaking with Marketing in an earlier report, Sarah Casanova, managing director of McDonald's Malaysia and regional manager of McDonald's Malaysia and Singapore, said that the initiative was conceptualized and done first in Malaysia and is now being adopted by other countries.