McDonald's Canada Embraces Social Media, Over 2 Million Interactions Served

BY: 

Dave Forde
July 31, 2012

It isn’t often that a brand opens itself up to potential criticism by consumers, some may even say that it is a bold move and you have to have some pretty big brass …. in this case Big Macs, as McDonald’s Canada did just that. The foodservice company launched a social platform last month, developed by Tribal DDB Toronto, a virtual door that connects Canadians with McDonald’s to ask questions about its food.

McDonald’s Our Food. Your Questions Connects Canadians To Ask About Their Brand

Canadians had the opportunity to ask questions, and the social platform turned those “Frequently Asked Questions” into “Frequently Answered Questions.”

“By opening up the brand and engaging consumers in meaningful conversation, McDonald’s Canada is boldly leading the way in transparency about its food,” says Andrew McCartney, Managing Director, Tribal DDB Toronto. “McDonald’s Canada is passionate about their food. This new platform allows them to share with Canadians the quality behind their menu and dispel the myths surrounding McDonald’s food.”

To date the platform has received an impressive 5,000 questions and over 2 million interactions, with users averaging nearly five minutes engaging with the site, which exceeds the engagement times of Google+.

A dedicated ten-member social media response team, led by Tribal DDB Toronto and McDonald’s Canada, monitored the platform and provided personalized responses using text, photos, and video formats. Even questions that did not meet appropriate posting policies were followed up with a personal reply to the poster.

“We knew this campaign would live or die on the quality of our answers, so we set out to create content that consumers simply couldn’t ignore, that they’d feel compelled to engage with and share,” explains Louis-Philippe Tremblay, Creative Director, Tribal DDB Toronto. “We conceived the platform based on today’s consumer behaviors and to encourage shareability. The results speak for themselves, with organic traffic generated from nearly 400 socialsources”

The share value created by “Our Food. Your Questions.” reached new heights with the now-viral video that took viewers behind the scenes of a real McDonald’s Canada photo shoot. The video has garnered over 6.7 million views on YouTube to date, and during the week of June 11 was the most-watched video on YouTube. It held the number one spot on Ad Critic’s Top 20 for five consecutive days and received widespread media coverage.

Likewise, a second video from the campaign, where McDonald’s Executive Chef Dan Coudreaut shares the recipe for the Big Mac’s sauce, has received mass interest. It too has earned widespread media coverage and to date has garnered over 1.8 million views on YouTube. Collectively, the series of transparent videos are fast approaching 10 million channel views.

“The success of this campaign is a testament to the simplicity of the strategy,” says McCartney. “By allowing the content to speak for itself, Canadians are able to see that McDonald’s has nothing to hide and there are no secrets behind the quality and sourcing of their food.”

Canadians can continue to visit www.mcdonalds.ca/yourquestions to ask questions about McDonald’s food and have personalized answers posted back to them. To ask a question, the site prompts participants to sign in with their Facebook or Twitter account, where they can share the questions and answers posed by them, and other visitors to the site, via their social

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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 20 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses. He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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