Big Mac Hero
Open the game- Brand
- McDonald's
- Year
- 2018
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Racing & Sports
- Platform
- Social
- Agency
- We Are Unlimited
Objective
By 2018, McDonald's classic Big Mac was losing ground with younger customers happy to shop around other burger options. The brand needed to rebuild that emotional bond around the Big Mac line while backing the national rollout of three new sizes — Mac Jr., Big Mac, and Grand Big Mac — already introduced via a Super Bowl LII spot. Rather than build a website or app, McDonald's chose to reach that younger audience on the platform where it already lived: Snapchat.
Solution
There's no app to download and no link to click: the player buys a drink, finds a Snapcode printed on the cup, and points their Snapchat camera at it (or opens a limited-edition 8-bit Lens near a restaurant) to unlock the game. That opens an 8-bit endless runner starring a character who sprints forward on his own; the player just times jumps to clear obstacles. Along the way they scoop up Mac Jr., Big Mac, and Grand Big Mac burgers to fill a rising "love meter," while dodging other menu items cast as enemies. A run ends the moment the character gets hit, with the love meter standing in for the score. Select influencers and gamers also received the game packaged in retro console-style boxes, giving them a second, physical way into the same runner.
Results
The campaign reached over 4 million people on Snapchat and was shared more than 108,000 times, with an average Lens playtime of 9.8. Among 25–34-year-olds on Snapchat, it drove a 14% lift in purchase intention and a 6% lift in brand awareness.
- 1
Players unlock the game by scanning a unique Snapcode printed on McDonald's cups, or by opening Snapchat inside a restaurant to find a limited 8-bit lens geolocated to McDonald's locations; Snapcodes were later distributed more widely so anyone could rediscover the game.
- 2
Scanning the Snapcode triggers an embedded HTML5 game that opens directly inside Snapchat, with no separate app to install.
- 3
The game loads as an 8-bit retro title called "Big Mac® Hero."
- 4
It plays as an endless runner: the hero moves forward automatically while the player handles running and jumping, dodging other fearsome foods that act as enemies along the route.
- 5
Along the way, players collect three promoted burger sizes — Mac Jr., Big Mac, and Grand Big Mac — with each pickup raising a love meter, and the goal is to gather as many as possible to keep leveling it up.
- 6
Outside the app, select fans, gamers, and influencers received a mailed companion piece: a kit packaged to look like a classic game console box, extending the campaign into a physical object.
