McDonald's: Restaurant Capacity Based Advertising For Mcdelivery

Credits & Description:

Title: Restaurant Capacity Based Advertising For Mcdelivery
Agency: Omd Singapore
Brand: Mcdonalds
Country: Singapore
Entrant Company: Omd Singapore
Advertising Agency: Omd Singapore
Media Agency: Omd Singapore
Production Company: Omd Singapore
Additional Company: Google Asia Pacific, Singapore
Regional Business Director: Sadhan Mishra (Omd)
Senior Manager, Performance: Saumya Goila (Omd)
Platform Specialist, Search: Riddhi Parekh (Omd)
Senior Manager: Edwin Kwak (Omd)
Digital Director: Karen Soo (Omd)
Analyst, Performance: James Dang (Omd)
Regional Digital Director: Joanna Stevenson (Omd)
Campaign Description:
Consumer Insight: Hungry consumers left waiting are unforgiving.The food delivery options now available at the touch of a button means consumer loyalty is a thing of the past – let them down and we risk never getting their business again.Business Insight: Through analysis of real-time order volume data we found that supply & demand were highly localized and varied significantly at any one time among restaurants. A busy restaurant could have an average wait time of 90 minutes, struggling to fulfill orders and offering a sub-optimal customer experience, while a quiet restaurant elsewhere could have a wait time of 30 minutes, with unused capacity. 15% sales potential was lost because of capacity limitations in accepting orders.
Strategy:
To maintain a competitive advantage, we had to identify how we maximise McDonald’s biggest strengths – the breadth of their store network and the depth of their owned data - to unlock the potential of every restaurant.We focused our attention on a new use of paid search as it consistently delivered maximum ROI for McDelivery. Partnering with Google, we developed a global first for any brand in any category; mapping real-time restaurant-level data against paid search spends level via a live API.If demand spiked in an area and delivery wait time was compromised, search spend decreased immediately in response. In areas where there was excess capacity, spends were pushed up and the ad copy celebrated the low wait time.Each restaurant across 25+ zones in Singapore was able to churn the optimal level of orders, resulting in better use of ad-dollars efficiency and a better customer experience.
Execution:
How did we make this a reality?1.We divided Singapore into more than 25 neighbourhoods using Google’s hyper-local targeting capability.2.We set up a real-time data feed (API) into McDonald’s nation-wide delivery management system to access customer delivery wait time by neighbourhood every 5 minutes.3.Using a custom-built coding script, neighbourhoods were then categorised as high, medium or low capacity in real time as demand fluctuated. 4.We established a set of capacity-based media activation rules in Google Adwords that would determine how aggressive spends would be in that neighbourhood and what messages would be served – all optimised in real-time. If capacity went up so did search spend levels and the creative celebrated a lower wait time. If capacity went down search spend levels dropped. Ads were paused altogether in neighbourhoods that were not able to deliver due to high demand.
Relevancy:
This case clearly demonstrates smart use of real-time data to create an impactful business solution which is a global first for any brand in any category.To maintain competitive advantage for McDelivery (McDonald’s food delivery service), we maximised McDonald’s biggest strengths – the breadth of their store network and the depth of their owned data. We created an agile ad delivery system in partnership with Google, which responded to real-time restaurant capacity to dynamically change ad-spend and messaging in each delivery neighbourhood.This initiative has proven to be a runaway success in Singapore and is becoming a global initiative.
Synopsis:
McDelivery in Singapore is a market leader in the category and has been growing at 10% YoY. Sustaining business momentum, while being in a leadership position, is particularly challenging. Established competitors like KFC and food delivery aggregators like Food Panda, Deliveroo and Uber Eats were never going to make our lives easy. Whilst they were serving to grow the category, they were also demonstrating the flexibility and efficiency consumers increasingly crave.Our challenge was to demonstrate the agility required to maintain growth in such a competitive environment with the following objectives:1.Drive more cost efficient delivery orders . KPI: 10% increase in ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)2.Drive increased demand for delivery to restaurants that could accommodate additional demand. KPI: 2% increase in monthly delivery revenue attributed to paid search
Outcome:
The campaign was a huge success, delivering incremental growth from an existing leadership position.1.More cost efficient delivery orders.58% increase in average monthly ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) in Sep/Oct 2016 vs. target of 10%2.Increased demand for delivery to restaurants that could accommodate additional demand.9% increase in monthly delivery revenue in Sep/Oct 2016 from SEM vs. target of 2%The Singapore success story is now serving as a template for real-time data-driven marketing globally within McDonald’s.“This was a truly innovative first in McDonald’s which has already yielded directionally strong business and media results. We’re extremely excited by the potential scalability to this work to drive incremental business growth in more markets around the world.” -- Silas Lewis-Meilus, Global Head of Media, McDonald’s “The pilot has been successful and we are planning to roll this out in more markets.” – Silvia Lagnado, Global CMO, McDonald’s