The McBundle: The Group Go-To.
In the summer of 2018, I was chosen to be included in the Zimmerman Advertising Internship Program. This internship organized the 30 interns into teams of 5, all to tackle the rotating clients and briefs of the summer. Some of those briefs included brand awareness campaigns for NovaSoutheastern University, out-of-home ads for Days Inn and Nissan, learning UX and the process of their internal studios, among other daily agency tasks. The overarching client project - that all intern teams were to compete for - was for probably the most high-profile client we could have been working on at the time. McDonalds.
My personal history with McDonalds runs deep. My mom often recalls that my first words were uttered at the beckoning of their fries in my sight, causing me to say, “YEAH YEAH YEAH!” My fondness of the iconic brand is not alone, and millions of others find familiarity and excitement in seeing the golden arches. So, to be able to have a part in expanding the advertising reach of the brand? An honor is an understatement.
The brief was simple: Expand McDelivery sales in the first quarter of 2019 in the targeted cities of Philadelphia and Miami. McDelivery was somewhat in its infancy at this stage, with consumers confusing the distinction between the McDonalds’s app and ordering through Uber Eats. The intern teams were told that by the end of the summer, their ideas would be pitched to the C-suite of Zimmerman, and a cash prize was going to be awarded to the best campaign.
My team was intelligent and aware of McDonald’s consumers. We knew that the most powerful pitch would be to sell an idea that would result in endless profits. So, we started with the logic of how groups of college students order food. There is a large distinction between the shared camaraderie of a giant pizza, or multiple entrees from a mom & pop Chinese restaurant, and the separated and isolated feeling of passing the phone around for everyone to make their individual orders. Our solution was simple; Empower the group. Enable the group. Celebrate the group. If everyone has their own go-to order at McDonald’s, then shouldn’t the group as well?
The McBundle was born. The group go-to. No more food fights.
My contributions to this project included generating questions for our target audiences, assisting with focus group interviews, designing the bundle boxes, generating copy across the campaign, designing various infographics for the presentation, designing all campaign mock-ups and collateral, and presenting our findings to the panel of judges.
View our presentation below.
Our pitch was not only chosen as the winner, but the next day we were flown out to the McDonald’s Global Headquarters in Chicago to pitch to executives there. I’m sure the flight passengers were confused why my carry-on was a red box that might have Big Macs inside at 5 AM.
I look back at this project with overwhelming pride. I could not have done this without my intern team, and my countless mentors at Zimmerman to push us further.
Thank you!