It's been more than a month now and the Pokémon Go fad seems to be largely dying out, at least in the UK. Whereas during the peak days on August you could expect to find hordes of children and adults alike gathered in most public places, hunched over their phones flinging imaginary balls at imaginary creatures, now the droves have withered to little more than an occasional trickle. Of course, this could very well be due to the fact the kids have all gone back to school now, but, honestly, I think it's more that people have already moved on to whatever the next thing is, such is the fickle nature of modern smartphone users. In Australia, however, it appears the fad is as strong as ever, and McDonald's and a team of agencies led by VML Australia have taken advantage of the nation's appetite for augmented reality by creating a game that has more than a little in common with the Nintendo hit. The game ties into the fast food giants annual Monopoly Game, which you'll all no doubt be more than familiar with. The twist in the tale here though, is that McDonald's have given the game a digital makeover, transforming the entire promotion into a mobile gaming experience that converges the digital and physical worlds.
Building on the traditional ‘peel n reveal’ mechanic of the old school campaign, Australian customers can simply scan in a new card for another one in five chance to win instantly via three games accessed via the Monopoly at Macca’s app. The first “Tap to Play” gaming experience sees game cards fly into the real-world via the phones camera and augmented reality before letting players choose a card to “Tap” for the chance to win, The second “Spin to Win” game brings a more physical challenge to life where players spin the card in the hope of uncovering prizes. Finally, the third “Dice Roll” game challenges players to roll that perfect combination to land on an array of fantastic prizes across the virtual monopoly game board. Honestly it all sounds quite generic on paper, but there are real prizes at stake here, not just digital monsters. The home screen of the app also doubles as a virtual game board allowing players to scan and stash all of their property cards. While the player’s ‘stash’ becomes a digital wallet for both major prizes and instant win food offers that you can swipe-to-redeem in restaurant at any McDonald’s across the country.
Mark Wheeler, Director of Digital at McDonald’s Australia, said: ‘’We are continuing to engage our customers through digital and the Monopoly Game at Macca’s was the perfect opportunity to offer an enhanced game experience via mobile. We are so excited to offer our customers the opportunity to win even more prizes with the app and we hope they have fun playing with it.’’ Aden Hepburn, Managing Director & ECD at VML Australia, added: ‘’It’s such an incredible opportunity to take a McDonald’s favourite and create a mobile-first monopoly gaming experience. It demonstrates how progressive the business is and its focus on creating innovative and engaging digital experiences for its customers.’’
In the first 24 hours, the app has rocketed to number one on the app store, making it one of the fastest growing branded apps in Australia to date, and generating over 200,000 winners already. Going mobile for the first time, the campaign and mobile gaming experience was led by VML Australia, who steering an enviable list of specialist partners including TMS, Creata, DDB Track and Leo Burnett. The Monopoly at Macca’s app is available now on iTunes and Android in Australia and I personally can't wait to see if it makes its way over here. Not that I'd ever need an excuse to visit my local McDonald's of course.
The McDonald's Monopoly campaign kicked off in Australia last week with an interesting outdoor activation that saw the country's first real-life Macca’s Monopoly Hotel opening in Melbourne, with two of the nation’s biggest McDonald's fans staying as the hotel's exclusive guests for one night. Inspired by the tiny house movement, which has seen people all over the world downsize their homes and hotels to prove happiness can come in small packages, the Monopoly game piece came to life in the city's Federation Square overnight.
The unique Monopoly Hotel, measuring just 2.4m x 3m, is one of the smallest hotels in the world and immersed its guests in nostalgia, with its bright red, game board-themed interior and exterior modelled directly after an actual Monopoly hotel. Mr Monopoly even became their concierge for the night. It was certainly a neat way to announce the campaign's launch, but the hotel itself didn't look particularly comfortable.
In related news. Leo Burnett London recently unveiled a new outdoor campaign (above) that promotes some of the fast food chains most popular menu items of all time. The activation is based on a google search bar and is pretty elegant, but I'm personally bummed that they didn't include the McRib. I can't be the only one who loved that bad boy right? Leo Burnett London also released a new print campaign today (below) that highlights the finest grade Arabica beans used in McDonald's McCafé coffee. They used renowned hand artist Guido Daniele to paint beautiful imagery on to hands holding the coffee on a simple black background.
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK.
