Media: Television, Digital
Year: 2018
"Can you help us with one last thing?" I was asked this as I transitioned from overseeing creative on the McDonald's account into a role on regional and global business. The one last thing was working on a brand campaign to remind Hong Kongers about the small but memorable role McDonald's plays in their lives, and it meant I got the chance to work with Cantopop legend Eason Chan on a version of Elton John's "Your Song." The musician in me was over the moon.
THE BRIEF: After more than a year of menu-driven campaigns, McDonald's released it needed to connect to Hong Kongers on a brand level, and tell stories about its role in their lives.
THE INSIGHT: In Hong Kong, McDonald's isn't just a quick service restaurant, it's an institution. People here eat at McDonald's more than any other country in the world, and in this space-poor city, McDonald's restaurants are one of the few spaces where people can gather.
As such, while the brand might not be there in the big moments in people's lives, it's part of many of the small ones. And aren't sometimes the small moments actually the ones that make life wonderful?
THE IDEA: The #littlebigmoments campaign celebrated all the emotional moments of connection that took place over McDonald's meals. The campaign reminded us that just because moment is small, it doesn't mean that it isn't important.
EXECUTION:
This campaign was constructed around a brand film that was composed of a number of vignettes - a friends’ dinner on a windy rooftop, an expectant mother with her partner, a young couple getting their first tattoos, a man visiting his ailing relative, and so on. In each scene, McDonald's was part of their moment of connection - sometimes in the foreground, sometimes more in the background.
Hero vignettes were extracted out of the brand film and turned into shorter spots showing offers on the McDonald's meals featured.
Early on we realised that music would form a crucial part of the storytelling. In line with our theme of emotional connection, we needed a song that talked about how important those close to you are. The song also needed to be instantly recognisable to a wide audience. Ultimately, we landed on Elton's John's Your Song.
The performer would also be equally important. With his immediately recognisable voice and enduring appeal across generations in Hong Kong, legendary Cantopop megastar Eason Chan was the ideal choice. Also working in our favour was the fact that Chan was about to release a new album and embark on his first string of live concerts in several years.
With Chan on board, the task then was to rearrange (and edit where necessary) Elton John's song to suit both the singer's voice and the tone of our footage. Vocal recording and mixdown took place in January 2018, with the spot being finished and released a few short weeks after.
RESULTS:
Powered by Eason Chan's rendition of Your Song, The campaign generated over a million views on YouTube and another million on Social within its first week.
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