McDonald's

Investigating the hamburger button’s origin

NORD DDB | McDonald’s

Insight:
The Big Mac is threatened to lose some of its iconic shine as more and more burger places are taking a role in the burger market, not least of all the restaurantsserving “gourmet burgers.”

With inflation rising, the price perception between McDonald’s Finland and seemingly fancier places has narrowed. Yet, McDonald’s has what money can’t buy: legacy, reputation and iconic-ness. Enough to light-heartedly claim that the three-line hamburger button found on millions of websites is actually a Big Mac.

The Big Mac Conspiracy is about building brand love by providing entertainment that goes beyond traditional advertising and gives a point of view that makes you see something in your every day with new eyes. Not only brand love, but raising and confirming Big Mac’s status as an icon.

Impact:
To date, the campaign reached over 19 million people – almost four times the Finnish population. TikTok views amounted to over 10 million.

People spent a total of almost 10,000 hours (over 400 days) watching Big Mac Conspiracy content on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. This does not account for peoplewho engaged with the Reddit threads and Wikipedia entries and other planted materials online. Additionally, the campaign ran as commercials on TV and in cinemas.

On the McApp, people were asked to reveal sites featuring the hamburger menu – the fastest got free Big Macs. 10,000 Big Macs were given away and 100,000 sites were reported. App downloads increased 50% from the previous month.

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