How VML Indonesia Turned Frustration into Fries
In an innovative fusion of technology and creativity, VML Indonesia has turned a common frustration into a promotional campaign.
Born from the shared annoyance of slow home Wi-Fi among Indonesian youngsters, “Wi-Fries” incentivised McDonald's app users with discounted fries based on their home internet speed.
With the frustration of slow home Wi-Fi now a highly successful promotional tool, the campaign significantly increased McDonald's app usage and in-store visits by offering discounts on fries.
Speaking to LBB’s Tom Loudon, VML Indonesia's chief creative officer Mark Verhagen breaks down the journey of creating “Wi-Fries”, the technical hurdles overcome, and the powerful impact on McDonald's Indonesia's marketing strategy.
LBB> How did the idea for Wi-Fries originate? Was there a specific moment or insight that sparked the concept?
Mark> The idea itself originated purely out of frustration. We have some pretty young team members in the creative team, and they would often complain about their Wi-Fi at their kos-kosan (renting a room in a boarding house). They would go to McDonald’s on the weekends or after work to enjoy the fast free Wi-Fi. This gave us the idea to turn this shared frustration into a promo campaign, turning bad Wi-Fi into discounted fries at McDonald’s.
LBB> Can you walk us through the development process of integrating the speed test into the McDonald’s app? What were the most significant technical challenges you faced?
Mark> The integration was surprisingly easy. The existing McDonald’s app already had an infrastructure that allowed for extensions. Generally these extensions were used for more typical promo campaigns, but they worked perfectly for our idea. Once we figured out the integration, we could focus on making the Wi-Fries app. The challenge here was more on the design of the experience itself. We aimed to make it feel like a speed test but use the fries as our design element. This, combined with easily sliding the iconic McDonald’s tray to start the speed test, made using the app a great experience.
LBB> Can you describe the user experience journey from testing their Wi-Fi speed at home to redeeming their fries at McDonald's?
Mark> The experience was very smooth. Users simply needed to open their McDonald’s app and click the Wi-Fries extension. This would automatically open our Wi-Fries speed test. The speed test was activated by simply sliding down the tray on the screen and calculating their internet speed. Once it finished, it automatically compared it with the average McDonald’s Wi-Fi speed and served a discount based on the difference in speed.
The more significant the difference, the bigger the discount on fries. The discount was given through a unique QR code on the app, which users could scan and redeem at the McDonald’s restaurant.
LBB> What metrics did you use to measure the success of the Wi-Fries campaign? Were there any results that particularly surprised you?
Mark> For us, the most important metric was the redemption rate, meaning the number of people who used the Wi-Fries speed test and went to the store to redeem their fries. We all know the hardest thing to do is to convert people from online to offline. When we saw an average redemption rate of 45%, we were all very happy with these results.
LBB> Can you share more details on the 60% increase in app usage and 45% reception rate? How did these figures compare to your initial expectations?
Mark> What was so powerful about this campaign is that it allowed us to tackle a few business challenges at once. One challenge was to get more people back into the McDonald’s stores
Ever since the pandemic, the restaurants never received the same number of visitors. Therefore, the 45% redemption rate was huge for us because it meant that people found their way back to the restaurants, using the unusual selling point of free Wi-Fi. Secondly, this campaign allowed us to continue promoting the McDonald’s app itself, which had been suffering against all direct delivery apps. Seeing a 60% increase in app usage allowed us to make the McDonald’s app relevant again for users.
LBB> How did you ensure the campaign was fair and users didn’t game the system to get free fries?
Mark> This was an interesting topic we discussed internally and with the client. We asked ourselves the question: “What if people would go on purpose to places that had slow Wi-Fi so they could score discounted fries?” Well, we would love that! If people go all the way to cheat the system, that means they want to come to our store and get our fries. This meant we would achieve our business objective of getting more people to come to McDonald’s. We also knew from research that if people would come for discounted fries, they would never just order that. They would accompany this with drinks and maybe even a burger.
The only thing we ensured was that the same person could only redeem their fries twice a week. This was to ensure we would get more unique visitors.
LBB> Are there plans to extend or modify the Wi-Fries campaign? If so, what new features or improvements are you considering?
Mark> It’s a campaign that will stay relevant for the next few years. We are conversing with the client to relaunch the campaign and potentially make it a recurring promotion, but we can’t say too much at this moment.
LBB> Do you see the potential for similar campaigns using other digital tools or technologies?
Mark> 100%. We are focused on creative ideas that help our clients generate direct transactions, and digital tools and technology are the perfect vehicle for this.
LBB> How did the local context of internet speed issues in Indonesia shape the campaign? Would Wi-Fries work in other markets, or was it uniquely suited to Indonesia?
Mark> We believe it’s a pretty unique insight. In most countries, McDonald’s restaurants are places you go into for some fast food, get in, and get out. When we saw that some youngsters stayed in McDonald’s longer to enjoy the free Wi-Fi, we knew this was an insight that was perfectly matching with an already existing behaviour in Indonesia.
LBB> How did you tailor the campaign to resonate specifically with Indonesian youngsters?
Mark> The Wi-Fries campaign resonates with Indonesian youngsters because it originated from an already existing behaviour of some youngsters: going to McDonald’s for free Wi-Fi because of their bad Wi-Fi at home. When we then made the creative leap to reward their bad Wi-Fi, and their frustrations with discounted fries and free Wi-Fi at McDonald’s, we knew we had a winning idea.
