Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase

The Challenge
In 2016, the McChicken (McDonald’s outstanding value product) was upgraded so that its patty would be 20% larger and made of 100% chicken breast meat. This campaign would be all about telling people that the Best Just Got Better. The brief was to target the masses, with a particular focus on Malays, since they represent the largest segment of Malaysia’s population. The challenge here was that the McChicken was so unpretentious and uncomplicated. It had no obvious ‘hook’ to build on. How would we create hype around this simple classic burger?

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
We realised that we could boost our product’s popularity by hitching it to a gripping narrative. Our main insight was that Malay audiences have a sentimental streak: Malays are known to be a warm, affectionate people. This caring nature of theirs explains why they are always keen to get caught up in emotional journeys. Local TV dramas provide just that. Our big idea, then, was to dramatise the McChicken’s stepping up from best to better by tying into one of Malaysia’s top drama series. Another insight was that appetites are stimulated by watching other people eat. The campaign would build a consumer activation program around that observation and link it to our main idea.

Media Execution
We had a 2-pronged approach: 1) We started with the #3BitesChallenge where people attempted to eat the new McChicken in just three bites. 22 KOLs, including four top TV celebrities took part. 2) The McChicken tied in with Media Prima’s 7 Hari Mencintaiku drama, which occupied the top-rated drama belt in Malaysia. We created a 30-second capsule ad whose premise paralleled the series’ will-they-won’t-they love story. In this ad, the drama’s female lead gets wooed by a male voice; when she eventually gives in, it is revealed that the voice belongs to the new McChicken. The drama’s two lead actors then participated in the #3BitesChallenge and shared their video with their 2.6mil social following. Malays love their celebrities, so we were fully utilising the available star power. Beyond that, we also spread our message far and wide. ● Radio – Ads reached working adults. ● TV- This created awareness among families, young adults and housewives. ● Newspaper – This targeted families. ● Digital – We capitalised on digital natives’ behaviours. On the first weekend of launch, we generated a first wave of high awareness via the use of YouTube Masthead, an all-day prime time spot on YouTube’s landing page that guarantees 100% SOV. And then we created contextually-relevant ads for custom audiences with pre-roll videos and programmatic banners.

Results and Effectiveness
The #3BitesChallenge ● delivered 4 million video views. ● was mentioned by 90,313 people on Facebook, 1,500 of whom used the hashtag. The McChicken ● achieved a high awareness score of 61%. ● achieved a high trial rate of 50%. ● outperformed sales projection by 30% and grew its baseline by 50%. ● sustained sales growth at 21% after the campaign ended.