Central to the campaign strategy is a play on the word fan -- meaning rice in Chinese -- to push the message that "McDonald's makes rice fantastic", while neatly celebrating Hong Kong's more upbeat mood, according to Randy Lai, marketing vice-president of McDonald's Hong Kong.
Pre-launch activities began a little over a month before the burger hit the chain's 200-plus restaurants with a radio programme tie-in, supported by outdoor and TV teasers.
Commercial Radio DJs picked and played songs they deemed fantastic and used their choice to explain the word. The radio tie-in, which will run until November, has also been extended to a series of 'Fantastic Stage' concerts of the featured artists --Eason Chan headlined the first show for customers and crew.
"We don't just do a promtion, we (turn it into an event to make it) entertaining, fun and exciting," Lai said.
The outdoor teaser support, including MTR domination buys, celebrated key destinations in Hong Kong, describing these as fantastic, tying the message to the product at the reveal stage.
The launch stage kicked off with a 30-second thematic spot, which likened the rice burger dining experience to a celebration. "In the spot, people are seen dancing at recognisable places in Hong Kong; eventually we get to a McDonald's store and the viewers realise that they are dancing because they have eaten a fantastic rice burger," said Karen Wong, business director at McDonald's agency DDB. A 15-second "educational" spot on the product has also been launched. "With the rice burger we are not only addressing the issue of menu variety against local QSR competitors such as Maxim's and Fairwood, which have a wider variety of local dishes, but we are also working on increasing frequency of visits as we are giving customers enough reasons to come back more often," Wong said.
Hong Kong is the third market after Taiwan and Singapore to launch the product. Lai said the chain spent a year researching and developing the product and packaging to fit local taste and allow diners to eat the burger without utensils. Lai said the chain also used the burger launch to boost staff pride, with T-shirts and buttons for the crew bearing the message, 'I am fantastic'.
OMD handled the media planning and buying for the campaign, which featured banner and full page ads in Chinese-language dailies.
McDonald's links push to HK mood
McDonald's wants to add the word 'fantastic' to the local lexicon as part of an extensive multimedia blitz to promote its new menu item, the rice burger.