ABOUT

CONCEPT:
In spring 2025, McDonald's, the world's most popular quick service restaurant, teamed up with The Minecraft Movie, the cinematic debut of the world's best-selling game, to launch A Minecraft Movie Meal. Our objective was simple: to drive sales of the meal.

Minecraft players had been bringing McDonald's into the game for years (even 'building' virtual McDonald's restaurants). Now it was our turn to return the favour.

But we also had a challenge to overcome. Given the sheer numbers of brands partnering with the movie, Minecraft fans were sceptical. To succeed, we needed to prove to fans of both McDonald's and Minecraft that this partnership wasn't a sell-out or badging exercise, but a sincere celebration of the creativity at the heart of the game they love.
McDonald's global team gave us the key insight that unlocked everything: both Minecraft and McDonald's are open worlds built by fans, where creativity thrives and personal expression wins. From this, our CRM strategy took shape. We had to empower fans as the ultimate creators.

McDonald's UK provided the core ingredients: limited-edition products and packaging, collectible characters, in-game downloadable content (DLC), and a six-week campaign window (March 26 – May 6). A TVC introduced the meal and the collectibles, establishing the world and characters, but after that, it was up to us to deliver sustained engagement. CRM was absolutely pivotal given its ability to deliver personalised, timely, and data-driven content.

EXECUTION:
Given our different audiences' love of inside information and 'Easter eggs' (especially so for Gen Z and gaming audiences), we went early to tease the partnership, segmenting for adult and families (with propensity to buy a Happy Meal). Segmentation allowed the strategy to evolve over time, enabling deeper targeting of engaged audiences, avoiding fatigue and maximising relevance over the campaign life. Behavioural and weather data triggered contextual messages, while post-purchase emails delivered unique DLC codes.

Our creative approach showed genuine love for both Minecraft and McDonald's in every detail, crafting and creating just as Minecraft fans do when building in the game itself, so that this felt much more than a branded partnership.

We started with teaser emails hinting at the collab, both visually and through clue-laden copy. For those who scrolled down into the 'bedrock', way past the usual T&Cs, there was an extra reward: a portal (just like in the movie and game), taking them through to a teaser video on YouTube. We also created a special family version of the tease, featuring a 'Creeper' whose surprise appearance saw the email self-destruct.

Our announcement email didn't just reveal the meal and collectibles, it invited the reader to 'mine' to uncover the goods, making them seem even more valuable.

We also created backstories for each of the collectible characters. Tapping into McDonald's lore, these stories cross referenced each other (and the short TVC), to create something deeper and make the collectibles even more desirable.

Fans love a themed menu item, in this case the Minecraft McFlurry. First, we gave fans early access and then, when the sun shone, we sent weather-reactive emails promoting the treat further.

Finally, to help perplexed parents learn about the movie and Minecraft world (with the help of their kids), we sent them a fun half-term quiz.

Each email served a clear purpose within our strategy, using playful, immersive design to tailor the content to different audience segments (including families, Gen Z, and product fans).

RESULTS:
The campaign absolutely smashed expectations with:

+250% above forecasted sales
60% increase in average spend
Email open rates reached 70%, with post-purchase emails hitting 80% (+143% vs BAU)
500k DLC codes were redeemed due to post-purchase CRM
Planned CRM segmentation drove performance, leading to 74% active customer purchases, 16% reactivations, and 3% first-time buyers
Overall, engaged audiences showed a 143% increase in performance
Repeat purchases surged among Gen Z, the meal sold out in record time, and weather-reactive emails drove strong McFlurry sales, where comms achieved a 75% open rate

Targeting and retargeting throughout the campaign proved that relevance beats reach, with engaged audiences delivering the strongest performance.
Our campaign demonstrated how CRM can turn fan engagement into measurable commercial results.