Rerouting you to the nearest fast food store: See how this brand used a navigation app to promote itself!
of this type create a lasting impression that enables consumers to actively engage with a brand. For today’s issue, we’re thrilled to talk about a brilliant guerrilla marketing campaign by a fast food giant. Continue reading to know more about this campaign.
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Rerouting you to the nearest fast food store: See how this brand used a navigation app to promote itself! In 2018, McDonald’s announced the return of its limited edition menu item called the McRib, a barbecue-flavored pork sandwich known for its rich and savory taste. In case you don’t know yet, the food item has been taken on and off the fast food chain’s menu since its debut in 1981. While this may seem an odd way of offering a product, McDonald’s has reaped tons of sales from this strategy. Going back to the topic, McDonald’s needed a new way to come up with a new way to promote the McRib in time for its return in 2018. The fast food chain’s solution? Billboards and a navigation app!
McDonald’s partnered with navigation app Waze to come up with a new way to promote the McRib. As part of the collaboration, Waze mapped and integrated around 300 McDonald’s billboards in Southern California to its database. Once this was done, the developers of Waze programmed the app to point its users to the nearest branch of the fast food chain whenever they traveled along a route where a McDonald’s billboard was near.
Waze users who were driving saw the notification only when their cars were stopped. The ad included a photo of the McRib and offered drivers the option to reroute to a nearby McDonald’s. Did the digital guerilla marketing campaign work? Yes! More than 8,000 re-routes occurred, which meant drivers went to the nearest McDonald’s branches throughout the 8-week run of the campaign. Additionally, the marketing strategy reached over a million consumers and generated over 6 million mobile impressions. The results were quite astonishing and effective. What Waze did for McDonald’s was actually a test for the navigation app’s new advertising capabilities. What made the campaign work? The answer is simple: It caught everyone by surprise! While applications back then were used for advertising, navigation apps were rarely considered for promoting products. Because of the surprise factor, those who noticed the McRib ad on the Waze app were intrigued and took a drive to the nearest McDonald’s branch. Remember: When a guerrilla marketing campaign utilizes available technologies, it can effectively capture the attention of audiences in a way that’s never been done before. Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful. Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing! Do you want to learn how a tourism board made an impactful guerrilla marketing awareness in 2021? See it in next week’s article! |
