2015 Winners & Shortlists

RED CHILLI

Bronze

Case Film

Presentation Board

BrandMCDONALD’S UAE
Product/ServiceMCDONALD'S RED CHILLI BURGER
EntrantUM MENA Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryFast Moving Consumer Goods
Advertising Agency FP7/DXB Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Agency UM MENA Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Entrant Company UM MENA Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Results and Effectiveness

On the morning of the 23rd Nov. 2014, the newspaper readers were surprised to see a burnt newspaper at their doorstep. They have come to a pleasant surprise that McDonald’s was announcing the Red Chilli burger with Tabasco sauce. Online readers were also interrupted by an animated tabasco sauce bottle dripping and burning through the main webpage, to reveal the red chilli burgers. Sales figures increased to 7% vs initially planned at 5%, total store footfall has increased by 4% during the campaign period, and awareness levels increased by 6%, therefore making the campaign a great success!

Creative Execution

We have imagined the feeling of eating spicy food with the analogy of igniting a fire. In addition to having the campaign activity across the several media, we have adapted our idea concept across print and digital media. Newspaper With a top English newspaper in UAE, we have taken a false cover on one day during the first week of the launch and applied an burning effect on newspaper false cover, thus making it look like the newspaper had caught fire on the edges, while having content like burning news, crosswords, and hot horoscopes. Digital We have adapted the same concept on the digital portal of the newspaper; an overlay animation of the tabasco bottle enters and drips tabasco sauce on the main page of the website, burning holes that expand into the newspaper page revealing the final Red Chilli burger artwork, and finally linking them to the McDelivery site.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

McDonald’s, being one of the most recognized brands in the country & the region, has launched red chilli burgers in the aim of: increase in awareness, drive footfall to the store, increase sales by 5%. We find that a lot of burger chains have a range of spicy products that cater to the spicy food lovers; we wanted to break through all the clutter of the spice wars with a twist. McDonald’s Red Chilli burgers featured the well-known Tabasco sauce as part of its communication, therefore having that distinctive taste versus other spicy burgers that no other fast-food restaurant has highlighted before. The Red Chilli burger consumers will look for more than just a spice to ignite their senses, such as the taste combination of the spicy burger ingredients and the added Tabasco sauce; bringing together the spicy food lovers, with the existing loyal Tabasco sauce fans, under one offering.

Credits

Name Company Role
Irfan Ibrahim UM MENA MENA Dubai Business Director
Rami Eid UM MENA MENA Dubai Media Manager
Noor Ali UM MENA MENA Dubai Media Executive
Deepa Chettur UM MENA MENA Dubai Media Operations Supervisor
Joe Zoghbi FP7/DXB Account Director
Diana Asal FP7/DXB Account Executive