2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Modern work pressures are causing parents a problem. Longer hours at the office means less time to spend with family, and many parents feel a chronic sense of guilt for not having enough time for their children. Quality family time is essential to both parents and children and many studies in the Middle East show that a healthy family environment breeds healthy kids, both physically and emotionally. As a family restaurant, McDonald's wanted to recognize a good work/life balance and do something about it. After all, the most important ingredient in all our lives is time with our family. Family Time Forever is a light-hearted look at children winning back their parents from hectic work schedules and long hours at the office. With Family Time Forever McDonald's is not just inspiring families to spend more time together, but also enabling family time through acts that bring them closer together.

Success of the Campaign

Family Time Forever has been well received by both client and consumers. Within the Global McDonald's network it is applauded as a best-case example on how to communicate McDonald's as a family restaurant. And in a qual research conducted to evaluate the campaign, the feedback proved to be highly positive. The campaign was liked for not just it's clear, impactful message but also it's high entertainment value and high relevance to the target audience. This has lead to the campaign spreading quickly across the globe and even being picked up in an article in Forbes, which refers to the ad as "one of the most honest Mickey D's commercials ever".

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

The movement started with branded teaser spots of children making pleas to their parents. These set the scene for the TVC and once the message had gained momentum, print and outdoor work featuring heart-warming messages from children to their parents. The importance of family time was further discussed by psychologists in print and radio. Later in the campaign two online shorts followed, serving as reminders. The next step was to leverage the enthusiasm created around Family Time Forever and enable family's to actually come together. In-store, family oriented games encouraged both children and parents to participate and Family Fridays at McDonald's took this one step further by creating weekly events around which families could spend quality time together. Finally, on our website we asked parents to take make a binding commitment - a pledge that they would make more time for their families.