McDonald's Launches Monopoly in Ireland with ‘Unbelievably Huge’ Campaign

Cawley Nea\TBWA has created an ‘Unbelievably Huge’ campaign for McDonald’s Ireland as, for the first time ever, the fast-food giant launches its globally successful Monopoly promotion into the Irish market with a number of large scale playing pieces.

Launching across Ireland, the campaign will primarily roll out across TV, Cinema, outdoor and social platforms and has been preceded by a week-long series of social teasers, in which a new film suggesting that something huge was imminent was released every day in the build-up.

Des Creedon, Creative Director at Cawley Nea\TBWA, comments: “McDonald’s and Monopoly have had a perfect partnership across many countries from all over the world. In fact, the highly-anticipated promotion has taken on a cult-like status in many markets, with consumers looking forward to the game coming to McDonald’s every year. This year is the first time that the people of Ireland will get to play, so it’s going to be the start of something ‘Unbelievably Huge’ in this country!”

To convey just how big a deal it is that the Monopoly promotion is finally launching in Ireland, the film and print elements of the campaign are centred on huge versions of the board game’s iconic tokens. In the TVC, our hero’s dog pales in comparison with the giant Monopoly Scottie dog, whilst the outdoor campaign also continues the ‘unbelievably huge’ theme by featuring oversized game tokens in restaurant scenes and highlights the fantastic prizes that can be won.

Creedon adds: “The aim is to get the Irish population excited about participating in the biggest game to hit our shores in many a year. It’s going to be huge and a complete ‘prize mania’!”

A unique element of the campaign is the inclusion of a dog whistle within the sound bed of the 30 second TVC. The sound will grab the attention of dog owners as their family pets are drawn to the sound, which the human ear will be unable to hear. 

Laura Daley, Group Account Director at Cawley Nea\TBWA, comments: “This was a spark of genius from our creative team and our client completely embraced the idea. McDonald's Ireland constantly look to explore marketing innovations and firsts, and felt it was a lovely addition to our campaign. We hope the dogs in Ireland love the campaign as much as we do!”

Daley adds: “Our vision for the campaign was to inspire Ireland to visit McDonald’s and play Monopoly. To do this, our insight told us we had to get over the famous Irish cynical nature first and make the unbelievable, believable! This strategic thinking led to our creative idea of ‘It’s Unbelievably Huge’, which highlights the colossal amount of fantastic prizes and further showcases the unbelievable huge chances everyone has to win them - which should even convey the most cynical of Irish mentalities to believe the unbelievable!”

The overall campaign is targeting one key audience segment; young adults. Daley adds: “Young adults are savvy and choose brands that give them a chance to be relevant and in touch, and the experience economy is showing that they start to value doing things more than having things. Gamification is also a huge trend amongst this audience and Monopoly Prize mania taps into this zeitgeist.”