McDonald’s put a new twist on a mobile summer tour. The QSR hit the road with a pair of everyday consumers traveling across the country in an RV giving the restaurant a fresh, new way to interact with young adults.
The event, called Road Trip Live, traveled some 25,000 miles to 30 events from Los Angeles to New York City led by two-person team Ruth and Ehren. From concerts and state fairs to pro football games and NASCAR events, the tour was one of the unique ways McDonald’s targeted 18 to 34 year olds beyond its store walls and directly engaged consumers where they live and play.
The RV, branded with McDonald’s logo and decked out with seating and umbrellas on its roof, was equipped with five plasma screen TVs, DVD players and wireless Internet, that visitors could go inside and use.
It’s all about “engaging our young consumer on their terms, in their worlds and learning more about what they do and what matters to them,” says Kent Voetberg, director of young adult marketing, McDonald’s USA.
At each stop, in tailgating fashion, visitors sampled some of McDonald’s premium coffee and Snack Wraps. It distributed about 15,000 premiums during the tour, including Road Trip T-shirts, Arch Cards, (McDonald’s branded gift cards), ringtones, mini footballs, beach balls, coffee coupons and Be Our Guest cards for free quarter pounders with cheese and Snack Wraps.
During the journey, Ruth and Ehren traveled to some of the country’s hottest places (think Chicago’s House of Blues) meeting young adults and capturing their thoughts and experiences into Webisodes and blogs at RoadTripMcDonalds.com. In, addition to commenting on the landscape, the people they met and the events they attended, they also contributed in their roles as brand ambassadors.
In one blog, Ehren wrote: “McDonald’s has this new item called the Snack-Wrap. Now, it’s an awesome sandwich, but Ruth and I, in our long hours on the road, ponder the difficulty of saying the name quickly and repeatedly (snack wrap, snack wrap, snack wrap, snack wrap, snack wrap). We thought we would challenge the folks at AVP (American Volleyball Professionals) to say Snack Wrap 10 times as fast as they can. The results were surprisingly good for such a tough tongue twister. So, for their hard work, we rewarded their mouths with a free Snack Wrap. A delicious reward indeed.”
As the tour rolled, Ruth described her feelings about Snack Wraps at a launch party in California. “Five days ago, we were in Santa Monica announcing the Snack Wrap to the world. Have you had it yet? Whatyda think? Me likey. That’s one tasty treat.”
Ruth and Ehren were selected from about 200 men and women who participated in a casting call held in Chicago for the spots. The two were chosen based on their enthusiasm and ability to interact and have fun anywhere and in any situation.
In addition to the blogs, consumers could track the RV’s whereabouts via an interactive map or enter codes to receive customized Road Trip McDonald’s photos and ringtones from Yahoo Tones. Visitors to the site scroll over city stops to see pictures and learn details about each location.
The tour began in June in Anaheim, CA, at the premiere of Walt Disney Co.’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and ended Oct. 8 at Lambeau Field at a Green Bay Packers game.
“The idea of putting a fresh, approachable face to the brand and the opportunity to interact with young adults across the country is very important to us,” Voetberg says. “It is a tremendous opportunity to learn more about what they think, what they like and it helps us to be real and relevant.”
McDonald’s interacted with more than 40,000 people during the trip, yet the QSR put little marketing muscle behind it. It used some local market radio spots to support, but largely relied on word of mouth, brand recognition at events and a mixture of discovery for Internet users. It plans to revive the effort next year and blogging will likely continue. A recent blog from Ehren says, “We’ll be posting a few more blogs of random stops along the way, so keep checking back….”
“Our reach was tremendous based on the limited number of events we had planned,” Voetberg says. “The combination of one-on-one interaction with customers and the ongoing dialogue with them delivered on our original goals of engaging our young adult customers on their terms, in their worlds and learning more about what they do and what matters to them.”
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