McDonald’s: breaking into gaming with demographic targeting

McDonald’s set out to Increase consideration, intent and loyalty among gamers through a VOOH in-game billboard campaign combined with age targeting.

INTRODUCTION

McDonald’s goes VOOH with Pokémon Happy Meals

As one of the largest quick service food chains in the world, Mcdonald's constantly looks to reach new audiences. To gain visibility among Canadian gamers, it ran a 6-week VOOH in-game billboard campaign for its Pokémon Happy Meals.

36%

uplift in consideration

345%

uplift in specific intent

58%

uplift in brand preference

THE CHALLENGE

Build relevance with the next generation of fans and strengthen the emotional connection with families

While gaming can provide advertisers with a highly engaged audience, it offers limited targeting options.
McDonald's needs to target parents as well as younger adults (18-24). How can NumberEight's ID-less demographic targeting solution Euclid Lite help McDonald's penetrate the gaming medium?

“By leveraging premium high-impact in-game placements with our partners at Adverty and data from NumberEight, we were able to effectively reach and drive awareness for McDonald's Pokémon promotion.”

Chris Lombardi, President & Co/Founder, APEX Mobile Media

THE RESULTS

Game-changing performance

Running the McDonald’s campaign on Adverty's in-play platform with NumberEight's ID-less demographic solution for 6 weeks in Q4 2023, we drove consideration, intent and brand preference among parents and younger adults.

36%

uplift in consideration

Test subjects were asked if they would consider McDonald’s for a future purchase. Ad recallers were significantly more likely to consider McDonald’s than non-recallers.

345%

uplift in specific intent

Test subjects were asked if the ad made them want to take conversion-related actions. Ad recallers were much more likely to do so than non-recallers.

58%

uplift in brand preference

When faced with a choice between McDonald’s and its direct competitors, ad recallers were significantly more likely to choose McDonald’s after seeing the VOOH billboard.

THE SOLUTION

The power of data-infused gaming

NumberEight's ID-less demographic solution allowed McDonald’s to target parents as well as younger adults (18-24). The inventory’s demographic split was significantly different to gamers’ average demographic split, thus driving impressions among the relevant audiences.

*NumberEight's ID-less demographic solutions are provided for age and gender ad targeting and should not be used for regulatory or compliance purposes
**Demographic baseline age data from Statista (2022) and gender data from Insider Intelligence (2020)

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