CAMPAIGN SUMMARY
To promote the new Grandma McFlurry to multicultural consumers, McDonald’s introduced Sweet Connections, a program that not only explored the generational language barrier between American-born youth and their grandparents, but also offered an innovative AI-led solution. This became the brand’s FIRST campaign in the US to prominently feature artificial intelligence and to enable consumers to interact with the technology.
OBJECTIVES
- Generate trial of the Grandma McFlurry among multicultural Gen Z and Millennials through a culturally relevant marketing campaign
- Celebrate the unique bond between multicultural youth and their grandparents
- Demonstrate McDonald’s deep understanding of the multicultural consumer
INSIGHT
The Generational Language Barrier - According to Gallup Research, more than 40% of Americans have difficulties communicating with their grandparents due to generational language barriers. This number increases exponentially within ethnic communities, particularly in Asian American and Hispanic households in which native born grandchildren grow up speaking English as their primary language, while their foreign-born grandparents may only be able to communicate in their native tongue. This barrier can make it challenging for younger generations to emotionally connect with their elders.
Application:
Leverage the latest innovations in AI video translation, to help multicultural families overcome the generational language barrier.
STRATEGY
- Launch a groundbreaking program -- and brand first -- that not only explored the generational language barrier within multicultural communities -- but also presented an innovative solution utilizing AI technology.
- Increase awareness and access to the latest advancements in AI translation by offering it to consumers for free.
- Deliver an AI-led campaign that featured both digital and in-person tactics, with a strong emphasis on on-site community engagement.
EXECUTION
- SWEETCONNECTIONS.AI - We built our very own AI translation platform (www.sweetconnections.co), where users could record a message for their grandparents and translate it into one of 30 languages with a single click. By utilizing AI translation, voice-cloning and facial reanimation, the end result would be a video that made the user LOOK and SOUND as if they were speaking a new language. The translated videos could then be posted to their personal social media or sent as attachments in private messages to their loved ones.
- ADVERTISING - We created a series of commercials that featured interviews with real life grandchildren and their grandmothers discussing the generational language barrier. During the interviews, we surprised our subjects with an AI-translated video featuring the grandchild delivering a message of love to their grandma in her native language. Shock, awe, and even some tears ensued. In addition to promoting the Grandma McFlurry, the spots drove viewers to SweetConnections.ai. Filmed in English, the ads were translated to 6 different languages (Mandarin, Korean, Hindi, Tagalog, Cantonese, and Vietnamese). They were also adapted into social media content and audio spots.
- AI WORKSHOPS - To ensure it wasn’t just Gen Z and Millennials having all the fun, our campaign partnered with local community centers across the country to host AI workshops for immigrants and seniors. Held in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Dallas, these events educated non-English speaking elders how to use our AI translation tool to record messages and translate them into English for their grandchildren.
- SOCIAL MEDIA - Recognizing that AI video translation is still a very new and unfamiliar technology for most consumers, we created a series of explainer videos that demonstrated step-by-step how the technology worked and how users could record and create their own videos.
- NATIONAL AMPLICATION - Although originally intended as an AAPI-targeted effort, McDonald’s was so impressed by our campaign that they rotated our spot into their general market media buys, airing it during major tentpoles, including the NBA Finals.
- PUBLIC RELATIONS - The campaign was supported through a national PR effort that supported the announcement phase and also secured local media coverage for our regional AI workshops.
- WEBSITE VISITS - Within the first week of its launch, our site received over 145,000 visitors from across the country and generated thousands of AI translations. The most popular languages to translate messages into were Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Russian, and Italian, which underscored the broad appeal of our campaign.
- INDUSTRY AND CRITICAL PRAISE - Industry pundits praised our campaign for its unexpected use of AI, specifically how we leveraged the technology to strengthen human connections, rather than replace them. Inc. called our campaign “Brilliant” and encouraged companies to “take a page from McDonald's in your business” when it came to incorporating AI into their marketing efforts.
- MEDIA COVERAGE - Sweet Connections sparked national headlines and important dialogue among multicultural communities, generating coverage among numerous national and in-language news outlets including Inc, Media Post, World Journal (Chinese), Asian Journal (Filipino), The Korean Channel, and Viet Bao (Vietnamese).
- SALES IMPACT - The Grandma McFlurry sold out within the first 2 1/2 weeks of an intended four week window. Multicultural customers under age 35 had the highest trial/participation rates and exceeded the baseline, indicating the campaign resonated with our target audience.
- AWARDS - Grand Prize Winner at the ANA Multicultural Excellence Awards, Nominated (pending) for three PRWeek Awards (Best in Tech, Best in Multicultural Marketing, and Best Use of AI)
