2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the digital or ambient execution or campaign.

McDonald’s Saudi Arabia was the first restaurant to open all night and we know that Saudis love to star gaze. So, we put our message where they were already looking: in nature’s biggest outdoor billboard, the night sky. We took them on a star hunt to find the McFries Belt, The McSundae Nebula and the Big Maccer. Our very own promotion star constellations that only appear during the Saudi night… on the McDonald’s KSA mobile app, that we equipped with AR. On launch day, at nightfall, our 200,000 app users got a notification to update their app. So if someone found the McSundae Nebula in the night sky, they could catch it and redeem it for a McSundae. They then got coordinates to the nearest McDonald’s outlet and if they were already out in the desert? Yes, we delivered thanks to our integrated GPS system and desert-savvy delivery fleet.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Saudis live on their phones… Saudis also live during the night. It’s a ritual passed down from ancestors who, instead, slept during the day to avoid the desert day sun. Along with that, they passed down another tradition of the night: desert camping and star gazing. McDonald’s KSA decided to be the first Fast food restaurant to get a license to open all night…But since we were the first, no one was used to looking for an open restaurant LATE at night. Our brief was to get people’s attention and announce that McDonald’s was open all night.