McDonaldland Map
View the case- Brand
- McDonald's
- Year
- 2025
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Mini-Games
- Platform
- AR & VR
- Agency
- We Are Social
Objective
McDonald's wanted to bring McDonaldland back into marketing after more than two decades away, turning nostalgia into sales for the new McDonaldland Meal promo while introducing the world to a Gen Z audience that had only known Grimace and the Hamburglar as separate memes, not as parts of one universe. With comparable US sales down 3.6% in Q1 2025, the launch also needed to translate cultural buzz into real restaurant traffic rather than just online chatter.
Solution
Open Snapchat and the lens drops you onto a 3D map of McDonaldland, where your own Bitmoji wanders the country alongside Grimace, the Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese and Birdie. Tap any character to jump into their mini-game — chase Grimace down a river in Grimace Island Dash, flick fries at targets in Fry Frenzy right in your own room, or take flight after Birdie in Birdie's Dream Flight — then return to the map to pick another. A second lens reads your location: stand inside a McDonald's and its walls, tables and floor turn into McDonaldland around you; stand anywhere else and the lens instead shows the distance to the nearest restaurant and points you there. At home, scanning one of the six collectible postcards from the McDonaldland Meal box with the Snapchat camera brings that postcard's scene to life on the paper. On a four-city tour, visitors could also step in front of a body-tracking AR mirror and become a McDonaldland character in the Apple Pie Orchard, with Grimace and the Hamburglar mimicking their movements back.
Results
2,000+ user-generated Snapchat AR videos and 4,000+ engaged AR participants; 7.2 million social impressions; 17.5 million organic and experiential earned social reach; 29 million total experiential reach; 53% of campaign social content originated from the experiential/event footprint; 13,800 in-person fan engagements and 9,300 product samples distributed at tour stops; 14 creators generated 4.9M+ potential reach across 34+ posts.
- 1
Players open Snapchat and access the McDonaldland lens either through the carousel near a McDonald's location or by searching for it in the app.
- 2
The McDonaldland Map Lens opens as a hub: a 3D map of McDonaldland where the player's own Bitmoji walks alongside Ronald, Grimace, the Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese, and Birdie, and tapping a character launches its own mini-experience.
- 3
In Grimace Island Dash, the player steers Grimace down a river, collecting Mt. McDonaldland Shake drinks and dodging obstacles; runs post a score to a global leaderboard, inviting replays to climb the rankings.
- 4
In Fry Frenzy, the player scans their own room with the camera to turn it into the playing field, then races to tap Fry Friends as they pop up around the space in a whack-a-mole style reaction game.
- 5
In Birdie's Dream Flight, the player flies with Birdie over McDonaldland, collecting golden hotcakes and avoiding obstacles along the route.
- 6
Buying a McDonaldland Meal (available from August 12) yields a physical kit of six collectible postcards depicting McDonaldland locations and a pair of "magic glasses"; scanning each postcard with the Snapchat camera brings that location's story to life in AR over the print.
- 7
The Step Into McDonaldland lens locates and directs players to the nearest of nearly 14,000 McDonald's restaurants if they aren't already at one, then unlocks inside to transform the restaurant's walls, tables, and floor into the McDonaldland world around them.
- 8
At select live events (ThriftCon Denver, Breakaway festivals, and the Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR race), guests stand before a Snapchat AR mirror that turns them into a McDonaldland character in the Apple Pie Orchard region, with Grimace and the Hamburglar mirroring their movements via 3D body tracking; players save and share the resulting video, the format the campaign treats as its core AR output.
