2014 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

At the time of submitting this entry, the Happy Alarm is still in its early stages and has gone live on the Android store (Google Play) from Feb 18th 2014. The app is a long term, business-building platform designed to enhance McDonald’s position to capture share in the breakfast market. It goes beyond just creating ads and into product development that enriches the marketing mix.

Creative Execution

Every morning begins with two things: An alarm clock and breakfast. And so to create good mornings, all we needed was a good breakfast and good alarm clock. The McDonald’s Happy Alarm is first being implemented on Google Play (Android). Next steps include pushing the App onto the iOS platform (App store). Initially, the app has only been promoted organically. Paid media support will commence in March. The Happy Alarm is being gradually exposed to over 80,000 users of the official McDonald's Arabia Mobile App.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

How do we induce trial while making McDonald's Breakfast the first thing a person thinks of in the morning? We took the one thing most people hate about the morning – an alarm clock, and turned it into something they would love: McDonald’s Happy Alarm. Every snooze wakes you with your favorite songs, videos, images or voice. When you do wake up, it drops a voucher on your mobile that can be redeemed for a delicious Breakfast item – an ideal platform to induce trial. You can even set your alarm at night and use the ‘Breakfast in bed’ mode to pre-order your breakfast to be delivered to your door the following morning at your wake up time.