Opportunity
Guided by that insight that 80% of UK customers engage with brands through their mobile phones, there was an opportunity to evolve MONOPOLY® for a new generation of fans that highly value digital experiences.
With the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis, tms and McDonald’s wanted to bring customers some much-needed cheer. Enter ‘Winning Sips’. We set out to create a campaign that would create feel-good moments for customers, engaging them through attention-grabbing promotions and exciting visuals to showcase McDonald’s generosity and invoke a sense of joy.
tms developed the strategy for ‘Winning Sips’ based on McDonald’s value framework that centres on showing generosity to customers. Working cross-functionally to bring together technology, marketing, and sourcing, we brought to life the creative conception, in-app experience, packaging, and merchandise. At the heart of the campaign, the ‘virtual sips’ mechanic combines the drama of a “thirst-quenching first sip” with the chance to win millions of feel-good prizes.
The uplifting visual identity tapped into a feeling of joy that can be seen across packaging, in-store communications, and in the McDonald’s app. tms built a robust in-app experience which served as a portal to millions of prizes, from instant win food prizes to exclusive Coca-Cola branded merchandise, and up to £10,000 cash. All this was up for grabs following a medium or large soft drink purchase.
McDonald’s wanted to provide customers with some light hearted fun, and reward them with something extra when they visit us, and what better way of doing that than ‘Winning Sips’. We look forward to launching four weeks of sipping, slurping and a chance to win.
Guided by that insight that 80% of UK customers engage with brands through their mobile phones, there was an opportunity to evolve MONOPOLY® for a new generation of fans that highly value digital experiences.
Customers have always loved the on-pack peel, however this year, instead of peeling to reveal a potential loss, Double Peel extended the game in the McDonald’s app – transforming customers’ phones into a MONOPOLY® gameboard. It was essential and that we created a collection mechanic that felt fun not clinical with an exciting moment of theatre for the peel reveal. Every transition between taps, sound and animation was carefully considered to delight customers throughout the gaming experience. Furthermore, we wanted the app to be as inclusive as possible and created a game that was easy to use from an accessibility standpoint.
We designed a platform that transforms customers’ phones into a MONOPOLY® game board, allowing them to collect their properties digitally. The prize mechanic is powered by our proprietary iWin technology and integrates with McDonald’s technology stack to ensure prizes won are easily redeemable and customers can seamlessly access their data. Through the new gaming platform, we ensured ‘double peel’ was the most successful MONOPOLY® to date, with thousands more users drawn in by the exciting digital element of the program.
By extending our popular MONOPOLY promotion at McDonald’s into a more immersive app experience, we’ve not only given customers additional ways to play, we’ve also built a wider, longer-term engagement in the game over the 6-week period – along with more ways to win. Doubling the fun for everyone.
To create an ownable, repeatable, headline-worthy launch moment that blends what fans love about Tribe Gaming with the power and performance of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
What better way to show the power and performance of the new Galaxy S23 Ultra than putting it in the hands of the biggest mobile gaming and esports group – Tribe Gaming. tms placed the device’s superior performance, power, and innovation at the forefront of all the messaging as well as leveraged Tribe Gaming talent, IP, community and tournament activation to create a stand-out moment.
Enter “Mission: Galaxy” a next-level mobile gaming tournament with a futuristic creative direction that showcased the new Samsung device’s advanced technology and features. Pairing the Galaxy S23 Ultra with eight of the most popular Tribe creators, we brought to life the ultimate battle. Tribe Gaming echoed our creative direction across their channels and released a series of unique unboxing social videos to raise hype in the run-up to the event. On the day of the event, the tournament featuring eight Tribe competitors was live-streamed across the platform, with content amplified by Tribe Gaming’s vast social community to increase viewership. The livestream itself also included midroll content during “intermission” there were unique “ads” Tribe created with Samsung approval, and Samsung also provided some of their product ads to include in the block.
The $15,000 1v1 tournament is available to view online.
We’re thrilled with the results of Mission Galaxy. With the support of partners like tms and in collaboration with Tribe Gaming, we were able to reach millions of mobile gamers and demonstrate the gaming capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Mission accomplished!
The physical peel, central to McDonald’s MONOPOLY game play, has always been well-loved, but its joy is short-lived. Our opportunity was to build a wider-reaching, longer-term, more immersive brand and digital experience so that consumers could continue playing and winning beyond the physical peel.
Customers have always loved the on-pack peel, however this year, instead of peeling to reveal a potential loss, Double Peel extended the game in the McDonald’s app – transforming customers’ phones into a MONOPOLY® gameboard. Players still had the opportunity to peel the label on their promotional food item for a potential Instant Win, but now they could also scan a property code to complete sets in the McDonald’s app. Each property banked in the MONOPOLY® Wallet gave players another chance to win an array of prizes via the Digital Peel in the app. tms brokered contracts between McDonald’s and over 20 prize partners, including BMW, Paramount+, TUI, JD Sports, See Tickets, Photobox, Wrappz, Zavvi, Go Ape, GLOSSYBOX, SkullCandy and AO.com. Customers had the chance to win everything from a new Mini Cooper, to shopping vouchers and personalized accessories.
After 16 years, we created a next-generation McDonald’s MONOPOLY® game, inspiring customers to double down on what they love and created a campaign that magnified the double feel-good feeling of the peel in a fun and engaging way. By extending the promotion into a more immersive app experience, we not only gave customers additional ways to play and win but also fostered high engagement making this year’s MONOPOLY® the biggest and best to date.
By extending our popular MONOPOLY® promotion at McDonald’s into a more immersive app experience, we’ve not only given customers additional ways to play, we’ve also built a wider, longer-term engagement in the game over the 6-week period – along with more ways to win. Doubling the fun for everyone.
In a world of sub-par customer rewards programs, T‑Mobile wanted something that set their services apart and provided real value for their customers by showing true appreciation.
Our data showed customers were sick of convoluted, tiered programs with valueless points. tms set out to drive value just for being a customer — skipping complex points systems. We shook up the idea of loyalty by keeping it simple and rewarding. We aimed to earn customers’ loyalty by proving T‑Mobile was already loyal to them.
We created the wireless industry’s first customer appreciation platform —T‑Mobile Tuesdays. Reinventing the loyalty paradigm in a way only T‑Mobile can, we thank customers every week with access to exclusive deals, content, and chances to win awesome experiences from brands they love. We are proud to have a longstanding relationship with T‑Mobile, continue to evolve the T‑Mobile Tuesdays platform, and connect T-Mobile with new, relevant brand partners to meet the ever-changing customer demands.
Find a compelling way to drive sales, guest counts, and digital engagement from a successful long-standing program.
Our research showed that guests were getting tired of collecting duplicate game stamps. With the intent of driving renewed excitement in stamp collecting, we gave every game stamp additional value online.
Within tms’s digital experience we introduced the Bonus Chest. With every 5 game stamps entered, the Bonus Chest unlocked up to 8 exclusive partner discounts. We continued to exceed sales, guests counts, and check benchmarks from the previous year. Additionally, the game website continues to see high engagements with all aspects of the game.
Noticing a pattern of decreasing visits to its restaurants during the month of October, McDonald’s wanted to introduce a month-long program that would tempt customers back. We made it our objective to turn that around by crafting an experience that drove guest counts, reinvigorated sales, and boosted brand affinity.
tms put a new twist on the standard sweepstakes promotion with an exciting Halloween campaign that drove guests back into stores.
We developed a bold program called “Trick. Treat. Win!” which leveraged a timely Halloween theme and a chance at instant-win prizes to delight customers. And for the first time ever, our program gave customers the opportunity to choose the prizes they won. As well as owning the campaign strategy, our creative identity featured across stores, digital channels, and the campaign packaging.
February is the most challenging month to drive traffic at McDonald’s Australia locations. The brand needed to connect with customers directly and find a way to drive immediate traffic into restaurants through the MyMacca’s app.
To drive people into stores, we needed to get them engaging with the app. Our approach went beyond push notifications or advertisements. Instead, we designed a compelling experience that would excite customers and provide tangible reasons to head into stores. Inspired by the insight that over 17 million Australians are now gamers, we helped McDonald’s tap into this culture by providing customers with an opportunity to play games within the MyMacca’s app and win prizes.
The result was Macca’s Mini Games, a hub of bite-sized entertainment which used gamification to give customers a reason to keep returning to the app. Customers had the chance to win iconic food offers every day, and our full-length mobile game, “Maccas Run” offered customers the chance to win cash prizes. This fully native in-app game integrated with McDonald’s tech stack technology, powered by tms’s own iWin gaming technology.
McDonald’s Asia-wide National Breakfast Day campaign needed a digital component to boost breakfast sales across the region. Driven by the business goal to increase the breakfast business by 1% year-on-year, we tapped into the insight that most people hate mornings, but love them if there is something to look forward to. We created a promotion that was specifically designed to grow brand awareness and boost customer interaction every day.
Alarm clocks are enmeshed in our daily routines, with around 85% of people using one. However, they tend not to be thought of positively. We wanted to find a way for McDonald’s to become part of customers’ morning rituals but in a positive way. The McDonald’s Surprise alarm flips the negative connotations of an alarm clock on its head by giving customers something worth getting up for every day.
tms created McDonald’s Surprise Alarm app, an alarm clock that delivers a fun surprise each morning. Users received McDonald’s food items, partner music tracks, entertainment, and more. From the strategy to the app build and even the language translations, we took the lead on bringing the customer experience to life. Our proprietary technology product iWin integrated with the app, empowering the prize distribution. Like a big roulette wheel in the cloud, it returned a secure, valid, and fair prize result in real time with each and every game play. With over 7.5 million app opens per day, the McDonald’s Surprise Alarm built brand affinity, increased visits, and drove incremental transactions in Singapore, Taiwan and Australia.