tms powers the digital experience for McDonald’s CARDS: a new collect to win experience

Eat. Collect. Win. McDonald’s CARDS launches on March 17 in the UK. The brand combined nostalgic culture to bring customers a one-of-a-kind promotion, celebrating a lifetime of McDonald’s memories.

From March 17, 2026, McDonald’s is giving fans the opportunity to collect and win when they purchase a CARDS Meal, receiving their very own pack of four CARDS designed to spark joy and excite fans. Each pack contains free food, and customers can then enter their CARDS codes into the McDonald’s app to complete sets and unlock exclusive prizes.

To support the launch of McDonald’s new game, tms combined physical game cards, digital innovation, and exclusive prizes to create a unique customer experience. Our scope enabled customers to enter, collect, and redeem seamlessly across channels, while fueling campaign excitement.

As lead digital partner, tms worked across UX, UI, design, motion, and front and back-end development to deliver a digital experience around the physical collection of CARDS in restaurant. The in-app journey sparks joy and excitement through a seamless CARDS collecting experience. Built around a sleek, elevated, and inherently premium design system, tms delivered interactive 3D cards and celebratory animations that create a richer digital environment for McDonald’s customers, keeping them coming back for more.

tms was also responsible for the campaign prize pool, tapping into customer culture to create simple and joyous rewards for customers, ranging from cash prizes to an exclusive range of limited-edition CARDS T-shirts. tms also produced exclusive CARDS binders and tins, that will be available to buy at selected McDonald’s restaurants.

To play, customers must order a qualifying CARDS Meal to receive a pack of four cards, with free food in every pack. They can then collect cards in the app for the chance to complete sets and win prizes – from cash to merch to a free medium McDonald’s meal a week for a year. Plus, the ultra-rare Ronald Card is up for grabs, with just 10 in existence, worth £10,000 each!

tms delivered this campaign with our agency partners, Leo UK, OMD, Red, Linney and TMW. The promotion runs for six weeks, until April 27, 2026.

Learn about other gamified experiences we’ve created with McDonald’s UK, like Side Missions.

18+. For T&Cs (inc. prize details), see mcdrules.co.uk.