McDonald’s festive campaign reintroduced the “Make Happy Happen” creative platform and welcomed Grimace to South Africa by releasing a limited-edition berry-flavored Grimace Shake. Grimace, as a character, faced low awareness among South African consumers. 

Capturing consumer attention during the highly competitive peak advertising season in December was also a considerable challenge for the campaign. Recognizing that conventional, one-size-fits-all solutions would be insufficient, the team prioritized innovative creativity and targeted meaningful reach to engage the audience effectively.

McDonald’s goal for this campaign was clear: boost brand awareness and drive customers to try its festive offerings, particularly the limited-edition Grimace shake, over the December 2024 festive season. 

McDonald’s teamed up with OMD South Africa and Eskimi to achieve this. They knew that conventional static banners weren’t enough to capture the desired attention. So, the campaign harnessed innovative rich media and 3D forced perspective ads to deliver a memorable, impactful brand experience. So impactful, in fact, that Eskimi and OMD won Bronze in the Programmatic category at the SMARTIES™ South Africa Awards.

The mobile-first media strategy ensured ads reached consumers when they are most receptive to messaging, while measuring the campaign’s effectiveness in real time.

Immersive creatives

Eskimi designed two engaging creatives to bring the campaign to life. One was a motion-based rich media ad highlighting McDonald’s festive menu, while the other used 3D forced perspective to showcase Grimace and the limited-edition milkshake. These formats leaped out from the screen, grabbing attention and reinforcing the “Make Happy Happen” message.

“The OMD team chose to collaborate with Eskimi for the Grimace campaign due to the dynamic and engaging nature of the animated creatives. This approach is designed to capture user attention, enhance engagement, and motivate consumers to visit their nearest store & purchase the festive menu offers, all while reinforcing the 'Make Happy Happen' platform.” said Nicola Kuschke, Business Unit Director McDonald's South Africa at OMD.

Motion-based rich media ad

Animated product banners received 4.5 million impressions and reached nearly 1.9 million users. With a strong viewability rate of 72.9% and an impressive APM of 1,608 – 98.39% above the benchmark, it was clear that this ad resonated with the audience. 

Nearly half (45.07%) of ad displays had active viewership, with an average view time of 3.57 seconds, reinforcing its effectiveness in capturing attention.

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Grimace 3D forced perspective

Grimace 3D forced perspective banner ad reached over 590,000 users with more than 1.2 million impressions. 

Its high viewability rate of 80.07% and strong attention performance metric (APM) of 1,336 – 64.8% above the benchmark proved its effectiveness in capturing audience interest. With 37.5% of ad displays with active viewership and an average view time of 3.56 seconds, it successfully drove awareness for McDonald’s festive treat.

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Incredible results

The overall campaign's results were measured using the Eskimi Brand Lift Study, which assessed shifts in brand association, recall, and purchase intent before and after exposure to the campaign. The study showed a 14% uplift in ad recall, a 10% uplift in message association, and a 10% increase in purchase intent.

The Lumen Attention Metric evaluated how effectively the campaign captured and held the audience’s attention. The campaign reached 1,557 APM – a staggering 92% over the benchmark.