Deal With The Trash is a campaign that in all aspects is an outdoor experience. The campaign included McDonald’s two biggest competitors in Sweden - without their approval. Since we couldn’t mention them, it became a strategic choice to put our messages referring to the competition as close to their restaurants as possible. Above that the units in close proximity to their restaurants were special builds that incorporated their logotypes in our OOH message – if seen from the right angle.

McDonald’s is the biggest fast-food restaurant in Sweden. Since 2018 the local communication concept is "Big enough to make a difference" which is based on using the McDonald's scale to make a positive impact on society. In 2021, McDonald's began a collaboration with The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes recycling and works to reduce littering. The collaboration revolves around joint projects that aim to reduce littering, something which is both harmful to the environment and costs society large sums each year.

In Sweden, McDonald's main competitors are Burger King and local fast food giant Max.

Background:

Approximately 15% of all littering is take away packaging. As Sweden's largest fast food chain McDonald’s has a responsibility in finding a solution to the problem.

The brief was to create a brand activation centered around McDonald's collaboration with the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes recycling and works to reduce littering. McDonald’s wanted to take the market leader role in the fight against littering, in accordance with the local long-term concept "Big enough to make a difference" and brand role "making good easy".

The objectives were to activate people in the McDonald's app and keep as much litter off the streets as possible.

Impact:

Deal With The Trash is changing consumer behavior, has made tons of trash end up where it belongs and motivated our competitor's guests to download our app and pay a visit to McDonald’s.

Media reach: 88% of Sweden's population.

App downloads: +13% (vs same period last year)

Active app users: +23% (vs same period last year)

Over 200 000 deals claimed.
2,7 tons of trash thrown in the bin and kept of Sweden's streets (so far).

Apart from the innovative idea of turning all take away trash into potential deals at McDonald's – the more traditional outdoor elements of the campaign were innovative as well. We had out of home special builds in close proximity to McDonald's biggest competitor’s restaurants. There were holes in the billboards so that we incorporated their logotypes in our OOH messages – if seen from the right angle.