Leo Burnett India has launched a new campaign for McDonald's that urges people to “Share some quality offline moments” away from the distractions of the online world, and engage in more meaningful and less family time together at McDonald's. The campaign promotes the fast-food restaurant chain's newly launched sharing packs, which offer meals for two, three and more across stores in India. The idea seems to draw a fair amount of inspiration from KFC's “Family Bucket,” and seems like a logical fit for a brand that places such a heavy impetus on family.
Leo Burnett India has launched a new campaign for McDonald's that urges people to “Share some quality offline moments”
McDonald’s India marketing and digital director Kedar Teny, who took the post last September, said, “With internet enabled smart-phones in our hands, it is a fact that most of us are distracted.” He believes that the new campaign “Takes this simple insight and urges people to take a small break from the online world to share happy moments in the real world.” Simply put, they “Want to start a conversation and a movement” amongst their customers, and are facilitating this by nudging them to use the #KuchPalOffline hashtag to spread the word via social media “With a simple act of flip to share rather than click to share. ” The campaign also encompasses a TV spot (below) by Leo Burnett, which features young people symbolically placing their smartphones upside down and spending more time offline with their friends and families.
McDonald's India ad by Leo Burnett
Of course, the irony of using the internet to promote not using the internet is not lost on us, but the movement appears to be working, as just a cursory glance at the Twitter page for the hashtag reveals that people from across the country have been getting in on the action. The #KuchPalOffline contest has obviously contributed to the campaign's appeal, with all users who share the #KuchPalOffline hashtag entered into a draw to win a one day adventure trip with four of their friends. Added offline incentives appear to have also been implemented in stores, with one Twitter user claiming that the staff at one McDonald's gave him a free ice cream for not using his phone and actually talking to his friends face to face.
All users who share the #KuchPalOffline hashtag entered into a draw to win a one day adventure trip with four of their friends
Leo Burnett India chief creative officer Raj Deepak Das, said that with the campaign, they are “Hoping to start a movement where we all would increasingly give due importance to sharing real life experiences offline.” He underlines that “The idea is to stay away from the Internet and the world of technology for a while, which is something everyone thinks but fails to execute.” He feels that #KuchPalOffline “Effectively addresses this issue and highlights how McDonald’s can deliver real life experiences with the sharing packs, across stores in India.” Leo Burnett India's vice president of planning Hitesh Mehta, also adds that “Through a simple and effective mnemonic like flipping the phone upside down (the campaign's major marketing touch-point), the campaign aims to remind people that the power of balancing the online and the offline worlds is in their own hands, a philosophy, brought to life across mediums including in-store, through various real-time and engaging acts.” Whether or not the campaign will be eventually make its way to the UK remains to be seen.
