McDonald’s Canada is celebrating regional foods with its latest marketing campaign the “Great Canadian Taste Adventure.”
On June 3, McDonald’s launched a new ephemeral menu featuring five items made with ingredients sourced from the region their inspired by. The first, the Cottage Country Burger, is made from chickens raised in Ontario and served with a smokey “Muskoka” sauce named after the province’s cottage region.
Throughout the month, McDonald’s will roll out additional items like the Western BBQ Burger, inspired by western Canada, and the McLobster, a staple that has been available from McDonald’s in the Atlantic provinces each summer for the past 15 years. Maple and Bacon Poutine (Quebec) and Chocolate Nanaimo Sundae (B.C.) will also be available.
The promotion follows several similar rotating menus in other markets, including the U.K., which did “Great Tastes of America” and “Great Tastes of the World” menus.
Solange Bernard, senior manager of advertising and media at McDonald’s Canada, said the campaign was born from insights the brand gained through focus groups – namely that Canadians have great pride both in their country and their local culinary specialties.
“We heard the love and passion [customers] have for our country. This campaign is a direct expression of that passion, that excitement,” Bernard said. “We really wanted to find a way to celebrate what it is to be Canadian, recognizing that from coast to coast there’s diversity and uniqueness.”
McDonald’s Canada has been working to showcase its local roots in recent years, starting with videos that introduced customers to the chain’s farmers and suppliers during its “Our Food. Your Questions” campaign in 2012. More recently, the brand put real customers from dozens of markets across Canada in the ads for its “Welcome to McDonald’s” effort.
For McDonald’s, Bernard said, it’s important to show how the restaurant is “part of the fabric of Canada.”
The campaign includes a 30-second spot by Cossette as well as a series of radio ads targeting specific markets. The ad for the Cottage Country Burger, for example, makes references to the highways that lead to Muskoka. Digital work was done by Tribal DDB, including a “Flavour Passport” app that asks customers to take a photo each time they test out a new item from the Canadian Taste Adventure menu.
The photos count as entries to a contest McDonald’s is running as part of the campaign. The restaurant is giving away a trip to one of five Canadian locations as the grand prize as well as a slew of Canadian-themed secondary prizes, like Muskoka chairs, Canadian tuxedos and a year supply of Canadian maple syrup.
OMD handled the media buy for the campaign, which includes both specialty and conventional TV and programs such as Big Bang Theory, Masterchef Canada, Modern Family and America’s Got Talent. The national radio buy includes stations Boom 97.3, 102.1 the Edge and Virgin.
The buy is heavy on digital, with display ads promoting each item and paid social media, pre-roll and mobile ads promoting the Flavour Passport app.
