McDonald’s Invites Fries Fans to Peel for a 'Surprize'

McDonald’s is celebrating all those surprising moments McDonald’s customers love about fries with a new campaign created by global marketing agency tms.

The 'Surprize Fries' campaign sees McDonald’s unleashing millions of feel-good prizes with every medium or large fries, inviting customers to 'Peel your fries, to get a surprize!'. Each order of fries will come with a peel, which either reveals an instant prize or a code that can be scanned with the McDonald's app.

By peeling on-pack and playing in-app, customers have the chance to win menu items, cash prizes and fries merch, including a McDonald’s fries pool float. In partnership with See Tickets, the campaign also offers chance to win vouchers for festivals and events this summer. Plus, when a customer enters 10 codes in-app, they unlock a ‘Bonus Fry’ of 2,500 MyMcDonald’s Rewards points to redeem on menu items.

'Surprize Fries' is inspired by all the surprising moments enjoyed by fans of McDonald’s fries, from the surprisingly joyful fries you find at the bottom of the bag, those fries that taste even better when you steal them from a mate, and the ones dipped in the weird and wonderful.

Supported by an integrated campaign created by Leo Burnett which leads with a feel-good 60″ and 30″ film that showcases how the fries' customers love now love them back, amplifying joyful fries fan truths while showcasing the 'Surprize Fries' campaign and promotion. The film will go live across a broadcast AV mix, and is supported by OOH, audio, press and digital.

The strategy and creative concept for 'Surprize Fries' was developed by tms as part of the agency’s ‘Delicious Wins’ framework developed for McDonald’s, which includes 'Winning Sips' and the launch of 'Surprize Fries' in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.

'Surprize Fries' isn’t just a generous promotion, it’s also a joyous brand building event, reminding customers that McDonald’s delivers feel-good they can rely on in tough times, through fry love and winning moments.

tms worked across functions to bring together technology, marketing and sourcing expertise, from the creative conception and in-app experience to packaging and merchandise.

Stephanie Pullen, marketing manager app and rewards at McDonald’s, said, “Everyone needs a little joy in their lives right now, and everyone loves our iconic fries - so what could be better than our new Surprize Fries campaign? Now, as well as the joy of finding those surprise fries at the bottom of the bag, when you buy Medium or Large fries, you’ve got a chance to instantly win extra joy with prizes including free items from our delicious menu, cash, merch, or even vouchers for summer festival tickets and MyMcDonald’s rewards in the app. It’s the feel-good hit of the summer!”

John Viccars, international marketing strategy Lead at tms, said, “McDonald’s fries are the iconic menu item that delivers surprisingly dependable feel-good at a time when customers are looking for feel-good, they can rely on. By celebrating the joy in every fry with “Surprize Fries”, we are building brand love and motivating customers to go to McDonald’s.”

Media planning and buying was by OMD; with a restaurant and below-the-line campaign by Linney; with Ready10 activating a 'Surprize Fries' focused earned media and influencer collaboration approach that will run across the five weeks of the promotion, celebrating the nation’s love of Fries; and data-led CRM activity delivered through personalised emails and push notifications created by CRM agency Armadillo.

The campaign launches on Wednesday, 29th May and will run for five weeks until 2nd July. It follows previous tms’ 'Winning Sips' campaigns for McDonald’s in the UK, which unleash millions of prizes with every medium or large soft drink.