McDonald's
Client: McDonald's
Product: McDonald's
Title: McPickle
Media: Social
Country: Australia
Date Of Campaign: 1 April 2019
Background: McDonald’s Australia found itself in a bit of a pickle. Our competitors were getting people talking by adding more and more ridiculous ingredients to their burgers – one replaced seeded buns with fried chicken! We didn’t want to follow suit. After all, why move away from a taste hundreds of millions of people already love? ? ? Our brief was to find a way to keep McDonald’s involved in the conversation and remind our audience why they love burgers from the Golden Arches – all without any media support.
Idea: We launched a new McDonald’s burger, in conjunction with Mango PR, that looked like one of Australia’s favourites – the Big Mac – and packed it full of an ingredient that people loved to talk, debate and even argue about: pickles!? ? The McPickle appeared as a single post across Facebook and Instagram with zero media spend behind it, but it was an instant hit across Australia and the world.? ? The thing was...the McPickle didn’t exist. It was an April Fool’s joke.? ? But that didn’t stop people from making it for themselves.
Results: The results were truly astonishing. Not only did the McPickle April Fool’s story gain traction in Australia, but it ended up spreading across the world for days on end. ? ? - 96% positive sentiment.? - Over 500 million impressions.? - Equivalent to more than $12 million P.R. value and $4 million advertising value? - 75 pieces of international TV coverage? - 19 pieces of international radio coverage? - Generated 800 plus media stories? - $0 spend
PR
Gold
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/160t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/2611t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/2011t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/764t.jpg)
Silver
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1529t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/163t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/681t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/2588t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1760t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1861t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1769t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/563t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/2042t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/223t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1974t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/360t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/2406t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1693t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1657t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/613t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1281t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/667t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1236t.jpg)
Bronze
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/299t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1566t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1349t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/286t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/347t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1237t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1743t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1808t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/169t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1232t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1993t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/2003t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1950t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/85t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/705t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/365t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/246t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1597t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/2069t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1331t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1000t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/644t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1845t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/669t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1686t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/987t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/2129t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1701t.jpg)
![](https://assets.caples.org/2020-judgingfiles/1699t.jpg)