CASE STUDY: McDonald’s celebrates 20 years in China on Douban.com

Background

McDonald’s wanted to create buzz leading up to this milestone and explore how deeply it had woven itself into the fabric of urban Chinese society over two decades.

Douban.com has 33.5 million users with a demographic composition similar to that of McDonald's target audience in China. They are well-educated, brand-conscious, urban, between the ages of 20 and 30 with above-average purchasing power.

User-created groups dedicated to McDonald’s already exist on Douban, and have gathered more than 10,000 people dedicated to Happy Meal toys.

Aim

The ‘McDonald’s toy collector’s space’ project is to engage consumers in a conversation about their memories at McDonald’s and explore the role of McDonald’s in their lives as they grew up on Douban.com.

Execution

Public relations and marketing agency Ketchum created four phases for the ‘McDonald’s toy collector’s space’ project, with key activities scheduled around World Children’s Day, the FIFA World Cup and the summer holidays.

The mini-site hosts images, videos, journal entries, a forum, events and polling. Douban users (Dousers) are encouraged to share their McDonald’s moments and exchange toys with fellow collectors and fans. The site serves as a platform where people can upload photos of their toys and hopefully complete the collection if any of the set is missing.

McDonald’s toys were distributed weekly to winners with the best submissions. Final winners will be rewarded with an exclusive tour of the McDonald’s toy factory in Shenzhen.

Result

Over two months, the site received approximately 1.6 million pageviews from over 103,000 visitors and nearly 4,000 uploads.

More than 17,000 Dousers actively generated discussions about McDonald’s role in bringing happiness to Chinese consumers.

On World Children’s Day, gatherings in 14 cities involved over 1,000 participants and resulted in record sales for McDonald’s.

During the FIFA World Cup over 1,300 fans joined in-restaurant campaigns in 28 cities.

Credits:
Project McDonald’s toy collector’s space
Client McDonald’s China
PR agency Ketchum Beijing
General manager Nick Wheeler
Vice president Peng Yue
Account supervisors Jennifer Li, Vanessa An
Exposure Online