McDonald's: Name It Burger [video]

Credits & Description:

Company Entering: Beacon Communications K.K., Tokyo
Brand: Mcdonalds
Advertiser: Mcdonalds Japan
Agency: Do (Dentsu+Beacon/Leo Burnett Tokyo), Tokyo
Executive Creative Director: Ron Smith
Creative Director: Yasuji Katsuta/Kentaro Suda (Digital)/Tomosuke Furukawa (Acd)
Copywriter: Kazuma Shimokura/Kazunori Kawagoshi/Maki Ohba
Art Director: Hiromi Uzaki/Satoshi Kohno/Yoichi Inamura
Designer: Natsuko Tatejima/Keitaro Koga
Account Director: Greg Jones (Gbd)/Eisuke Tsujisaki/Takayuki Imai
Account Executive: Jumpei Kyogoku/Chiaki Maehara/Sawako Nakahara
Pr Planner: Tomoya Oka
Marketing Communication Director: Kazuhiko Fuchioka
Media Planner: Yuya Koyama (Digital)
Promotion Planner: Takamitsu Kuwano
Agency Producer: Maiko Yamaguchi/Hiroki Mashima
Film Production Company: Geek Pictures Inc., Tokyo
Director: Koichiro Tsujikawa
Production Manager: Yoko Nishikawa
Print Producer: Hidekazu Fujii
Web: Naomi Imon
Director Of Photography (D.O.P): Yoshinobu Yoshida
Campaign Summary:
This Campaign Was About Generating Buzz By Asking People To Name The New Burger Using The Power Of Sns To Regain Those Users Who Had Lost Interest In Mcdonalds. Japanese Love Expressing Opinions On Social Media So They Jumpted At The Opportunity To Participate With The New Mcdonalds Campaign. Influencers Including Youtubers Joined In The Fun And Provoked Conversation. As It Turned Out, Name It Campaign Received Over 5 Million Entries, Making It The Biggest Naming Campaign Ever Seen Before In Japan.
The Brief:
People Have Been Drifting Away From Mcdonalds. Therefore, We Needed Them To Feel A Connection With Mcdonalds And Come Back Again. The Campaign Was To Enhance Consumer Engagement With Brand By Providing Fun And Excitement Burger Experience. Objective Was To Provide A Fun Experience With Good Quality And Taste That Customers Can Enjoy Talking To Others.
The Strategy:
Since People Name Things They Love (Insight), We Thought It Would Be Amazing If Customers Helped Name Our New Burger (Idea). Nothing Is More Personal Than Creating A Name For Someone – Or In This Case Something You Love. People Invest A Lot Of Time And Care Creating A Name For Their Car, Their Pet, A Nickname For A Friend, And More. We Needed To Re-Ignite A More Personal Connection With The Brand. So Our Challenge Was To Place Our Low-Involvement Fast Food Categorys Limited-Time Offer Burger Into The Realm Of High-Involvement Naming Passion. The Genesis Of The Idea Stemmed From How Often Words Are Abbreviated In Japan. Japanese Language Has Three Alphabets With Thousands Of Kanji And Many English Words Mixed In, Adding Even More Complexity To The Vocabulary. So Its Very Common And Popular For Japan To Shorten Words To Be “Cute” And Easy To Say. The Media Channels Were Chosen To Amplify The Influencers. Bakarhythm, Released A Video Invitation On Youtube (Supported With Paid Display Advertising), Which Directed Viewers To Submit Their Naming Suggestions Online (Web And Mobile). The Web Video Was Co-Created By Bakarhythm And His Offbeat Humor Delivered An Authentic Message To His Fans. In Addition, 20 Influential Bloggers Received A Customized ‘Burger Invitation Box’ To Attend A Special Press Launch And Encouraged Their Followers To Participate. As The Message Expanded It Attracted The Attention Of Other Youtubers, Who Created Their Own Web Videos To Share With Their Followers. In Addition, The Message Was Supported On Twitter, Tv And At Retail. Tv Was Used As A General Announcement Medium – At The Beginning To Create The Call For Name Entries And At The Closure Of The Campaign To Announce The Winning Name. Product Packaging And In-Store Menuboards Changed Over The Course Of The 5-Week Campaign. Mcdonalds Official Twitter Handle Provided Daily Updates For Recognition And Encouragement.
The Execution:
We Invited People To Engage With The Brand, Through Their Own Creativity, By Personalizing A Major Product. We Collaborated With Bakarhythm, A Deadpan Comedian With A Large Twitter Following, To Reveal The Long Temporary Name And Invited People To Try Our Newest Burger. Then We Asked Them To Give It A Shorter Name That Described The Great Taste – With The Campaign “Name It Burger.”
The Result:
There Were Over 5,016,926 Entries Within The Two-Week Submission Which Recorded The Highest Number Of Entries Ever Seen Before In Japan. (Survey By Koubo Guide Company) Media Ad Conversion Was Over 700 Million Yen. Campaign Site Page View Hit 21,956,193 Within 2 Weeks Of The Entry Period. Sales Peaked Twice During Product Launch And New Name Announcement Period Which Never Seen In The Usual Campaign. Same-Store Sales Increased 29.4% Year-On-Year During The Campaign. Customers Increased By 13.7% Year-On-Year During The Campaign. Followers Of The Official Twitter Account Increased By Over 160,000 People During The Campaign. Reactions To The New Name Announcement Made On The Official Twitter Account Reached Over 130,000 Tweets In 1day. The News Quickly Spread Nationwide And Was Picked Up By Influential Tv Programs And Internet News, Evolving Into A Movement As Celebrities Joined In. It Became A Phenomenon In Japan As People Posted Names On Social Media.