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For years now, McDonald's has been engaged in a global digital and experience transformation to meet the rapidly changing ordering options and needs of its customers.

The brief was to create a cohesive design experience across all McDonald's digital channels – website, mobile app, and in-store interfaces – that could be globally recognized and locally adapted, all while not losing the joy and warmth in the brand’s essence. Additionally, because of COVID-19, McDonald’s had to accelerate this digital transformation to just one year from several years in order to maintain and grow their business through lockdowns.

Alongside great food, McDonald’s has always served up feel-good moments. So, our strategic insight behind McDonald's transformation was centered on a key opportunity: making the digital experience "Fun and Exciting." The single strategic goal was to make every meal a happy experience by delivering a feel-good experience anywhere you interact with McDonald’s.

The target customer segments included all current customers, with a particular focus on those under 35 with kids who were digital natives. Additionally, insights from our research and data showed we needed to further aim at attracting customers who sought out fun and exciting restaurant experiences. By tailoring the digital transformation to these groups, we were able enhance customer satisfaction, drive digital adoption, and accelerate the process of change.

The execution and delivery of McDonald’s digital transformation was extensive, requiring a multi-faceted approach with a sizable team developing and designing several streams of work for all of the main elements of their digital ecosystem globally.

First, we aimed to establish how we could seamlessly change the ways of ordering by building a comprehensive blueprint intended to streamline and improve the ordering process, making it more efficient and user-friendly. Second, we focused on delivering an on-brand ‘One Experience’ across all digital platforms. To achieve this, we developed and implemented a unified global design system that could scale and flex to connect every possible touchpoint in their ecosystem. We then set about completely redesigning their rebranded website and mobile app to offer a fun, fast, and frictionless experience which led to a significant increase in app users and conversion rates. Simultaneously, we integrated this experience into their in-store kiosks with best-in-class accessibility to increase adoption rates among those who preferred self-service over takeout or in-app ordering. Lastly, we needed to convert millions to use the app, so we conceived and launched their first-ever digital loyalty program: MyMcDonald’s Rewards. This aimed to boost customer engagement and repeat usage, resulting in significant growth in program membership and high ratings in app stores.