X-MASters
View the case- Brand
- McDonald's
- Year
- 2020
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Mini-Games
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- This Page Amsterdam
Objective
When Covid restrictions forced McDonald's Nederland to cancel its usual paper gift calendar, the brand needed a digital way to keep the December ritual alive and give its largely Gen Z app audience a positive close to a hard year. X-MASters turned that need into a daily habit — pulling people back into the McDonald's app every day in December, linking TV, out-of-home and in-store media to the app through a shared hunt, and using the game layer to move promotional offers and merch.
Solution
Open the McDonald's app on any day between December 1 and 23 and the whole interface has been reskinned for X-MASters, with a new mini-game unlocked for that date. Play it to win a daily prize, plus X-Medals that get added to a running tally shown against other players on the X-MASters leaderboard. Collect 15 medals and a final game unlocks, leading to the campaign's main prize. Alongside the daily games, players hunt for a separate set of Super X-Medals hidden outside the app — spotted in a TV spot, scanned from QR codes on bus-stop posters, found on paper tray liners in restaurants, or triggered by location — with the first 100 people to collect them all earning bonus MyMcDonald's Rewards points. After December 23, an After Party lets stragglers pick up any medals they missed, capped off by a multi-day Mystery Hunt.
Results
X-MASters drew 200,000 players. According to the campaign's creative directors, the reskinned McDonald's app became the Netherlands' most popular app for three weeks running during the campaign.
- 1
Marketing across TV, out-of-home, radio, display ads and influencer posts directs viewers to install the McDonald's Netherlands app, the only entry point into the campaign.
- 2
On December 1 the app skins itself entirely in X-MASters branding and opens on an advent-calendar grid of 23 days, with only the current day unlocked and future days locked.
- 3
Each day the player opens that day's slot to play a new, deliberately easy mini-game built to be finished rather than won; finishing it earns a Daily X-Medal, an entry into that day's prize draw (alternating branded merch and electronics), and unlocks that month's menu discount offers.
- 4
Every finished game also posts the player's result to an X-MASters leaderboard, layering a competitive ranking on top of the daily return visits.
- 5
Collecting 15 Daily X-Medals unlocks a finale game, and winning it qualifies the player for the campaign's grand prize.
- 6
In parallel, players hunt for 27 hidden Super X-Medals spread across the whole brand ecosystem and media plan: secret levels reached by beating high scores inside the mini-games, QR codes on outdoor posters and paper tray liners, links tucked into Instagram bio, stories and YouTube descriptions, spots hidden across the McDonald's website (deals, wishlist, FAQ, careers page, footer), an in-store geolocation check-in, a linked TV-ad giveaway, and behavioral easter eggs like opening the app after midnight or sharing it with a friend.
- 7
Collecting every medal awards a final "Super X-MASter" medal, and the first 100 players to complete the full set receive loyalty-program reward points.
- 8
After December 23 the event stays open as an "After Party" into early January, letting players replay missed days to pick up any medals they hadn't collected in time.
- 9
A closing five-day "Mystery Hunt" hands out one clue per day pointing to a letter hidden across the app and the brand's social posts; players who assemble and submit the complete word by the deadline enter a draw for a grand mystery prize.
