McDonald’s Canada is helping consumers perk up their mornings through a two-week nationwide free coffee event designed to encourage trial of its premium roast coffee.
Starting today, consumers visiting McDonald’s will get a small coffee free of charge—no purchase necessary—whenever breakfast is served.
While McDonald’s is well known for its breakfast menu, it isn’t necessarily recognized as a coffee destination, said Karen Gold, national marketing director.
The promotion is running as part of the chain’s ongoing “Let’s start fresh” campaign for its breakfast menu.
“We want to make sure consumers understand that not only is McDonald’s a great place for food… we’re also a great place for coffee, so it really is the best way to start your morning, and we want to ‘start fresh’ with consumers, with that message,” she said.
McDonald’s sold about 1.3 million more cups of coffee this February than it did last February, but there is room to increase sales still further, said Gold.
“We thought we could grow it more if we started to talk about it.”
The coffee will also be served in new “fire-roasted coloured cup” that stays cooler to the touch.
Billboards, TV, radio and out-of-home advertising from Cossette support the promotion. OMD Canada handled the media planning and buying.
Launched last week, a 30-second TV spot starts with a female McDonald’s employee offering a man a cup of free coffee.
He looks at her, eyes wide, as she starts to explain that McDonald’s Premium Roast coffee is made with 100% Arabica beans, hand-picked and fire-roasted for a full-bodied flavour.
A table of his friends looks on in disbelief, as she continues to explain how great the coffee tastes. The man raises his hand and shushes her.
“You had me at free,” he says. He takes the coffee from her tray and joins his friends.
The quick-service restaurant has also launched the “Mug Shot” contest at McDonaldsMugShots.ca, built by Fusion Studios Inc. Visitors can upload photographs of themselves enjoying a cup of McDonald’s coffee.
McDonald’s will select five finalists who will have two weeks to campaign for online votes from the public. The winner will receive 500 “Be My Guest” cards, each valid for one free medium-sized coffee. GolinHarris developed the contest as well as the PR efforts promoting it.
In addition, McDonald’s has placed giant steaming coffee mugs in high-traffic areas downtown Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary, and launched a Facebook event page.
