Shrek's Treketh To Adventure
View the case- Brand
- Shrek
- Year
- 2007
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Mini-Games
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Fuel Industries
Objective
McDonald's was launching its first-ever DreamWorks tie-in after a decade tied exclusively to Disney, and needed the debut to land across 33,000+ restaurants in 100+ countries. Beyond moving Happy Meals, the brand wanted to blunt the era's backlash against marketing to kids, so the campaign was built to convert screen time into offline play rather than just holding kids in front of a browser.
Solution
Kids land on happymeal.com or mcdonalds.com, build their own avatar, and step into the land of Far Far Away to lead Shrek down a series of trails, rescuing his friends along the way. Each leg mixes mini-games, ciphers to crack, and 3D scenes to explore, and finishing a task pays out "eMergy" points, tallied both for the player and for their country, so kids can watch a worldwide total climb alongside their own. Those points cash in for digital rewards like sound mixers, screensavers, and IM icons. Some trails deliberately push play back out of the browser, and codes printed on specially marked Shrek packaging unlock the next stretch of the adventure — so a trip to McDonald's is what lets the story continue.
Results
Restaurant sales rose 8.7% against a 5% target, Happy Meal sales rose 14% against a 4% target, milk sales rose 21%, and Apple Dippers sales rose 37%. Parental trust in the brand rose 11.15%, 81% of kids rated the site fun, and average session length ran 19 minutes.
- 1
The player obtains a McDonald's Happy Meal or related promo pack whose packaging carries printed codes and "adventure tips" for the online game.
- 2
The player goes to happymeal.com or mcdonalds.com, picks a language, and builds a personal avatar to represent them in the adventure.
- 3
The player arrives in the world of Far, Far Away, shown as a map of branching trails that Shrek can be led along.
- 4
The core loop is trail-based progression toward rescuing Shrek's friends: the player clears short mini-games and solves secret-cipher puzzles along each trail segment to unlock the next stretch of path.
- 5
At points along the journey the game breaks into cinematic 3D sequences styled like contemporary online video games rather than typical web content.
- 6
Entering a code printed on McDonald's packaging unlocks additional progress, letting a player who bought the promo advance further than one who did not.
- 7
The game also assigns a real-world physical activity as an offline task, and completing it counts toward progress in the online adventure.
- 8
Both online and offline tasks earn points called "eMergy," which are tallied on a running score the player can track against country totals and the wider player community.
- 9
Players redeem accumulated eMergy points for digital rewards such as sound mixers, screensavers, and messenger icons.
- 10
Returning to the restaurant for another Happy Meal extends the loop with a new item from a set of ten talking toys, collectible Shrek arch cards, and green straw-like "ears" for a tie-in shake.
