McDonald’s Winning Combination

McDonald’s new game plan seems to have worked. Late last month McDonald’s Corp. wrapped up Winning Time, its first game promotion in 19 months since the FBI broke up a ring of embezzlers who stole $20 million in high-level game pieces (October 2001 PROMO). Since the August 2001 arrests, McDonald’s has revamped its security protocols and could set a new industry standard for games execution. “It’s the most top-notch thing I’ve ever been involved in,” says one security expert.

“In general, clients will have higher expectations for security and agencies will be obliged to deliver that,” says Mark Watson, VP-account director at The Marketing Store Worldwide, which handled Winning Time.

The game played well with consumers, with 400 million pieces distributed and store traffic up for the promotional period. “With Winning Time, an improved emphasis on service, premium salads and our new Dollar Menu, we have a powerful combination of activity,” says McDonald’s VP-U.S. Marketing Neil Golden.

McDonald’s desperately needs to drive traffic. Same-store volume has fallen for 12 consecutive months; system-wide sales for stores open at least 13 months fell 4.7%. February sales for U.S. stores fell two percent to $1.49 billion.

The company established a Games Advisory Board, which convened last fall after the Monopoly fiasco. Led by former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb, the group met every two to three months through spring 2002. “They were a conscience and oversight rather than developers” of security systems, says Golden. “They offered good counsel about security and objectivity” that helped foster a system with internal and external checks and balances.

Big Mac made three big changes to its games protocol, based on advice from the board: There’s no longer a single party overseeing game security; independent auditors authenticate game pieces; and McDonald’s will randomly rotate individuals at its agencies to different roles from one game to the next. Single-party oversight enabled ringleader Jerome Jacobson to set up the embezzlement scheme. As director of security for McD’s then-agency, Simon Marketing, Jacobson took control of high-value game pieces straight off the printing press and seeded them himself, accompanied by an unwitting accounting firm representative. Broader oversight and rotation of individuals should prevent that from happening again. McDonald’s Director-U.S. Marketing Douglas Freeland was point person for Winning Time; Senior Director-U.S. Marketing Brian O’Mara helped develop the game. A small number of individuals from McDonald’s security department are present at key stages of the execution process, and “outside firms provide additional checks and balance,” says Golden.

Oak Brook, IL-based McDonald’s brought its six national promo and ad agencies together early on when it began designing the campaign in spring 2002, says Golden: “They all had a seat at the table to bring their area of accountability to life.” The Marketing Store, Hinsdale, IL, handled Winning Time creative and execution, including game piece design, negotiation for prizes and production management. Frankel, Chicago, handled merchandising.

Game piece design, printing and seeding were handled by three separate companies, based on the advisory board’s dictate to have clear hand-off points along the production process. (McDonald’s won’t disclose the printer for Winning Time, but Quebecor World printed game pieces in the past.) Verification continues through June 20.

Winning game pieces had special points of identification that were verified by an independent security firm before distribution. No individual on McDonald’s verification team knows all the points of identification; the group meets to verify winners.

That’s unusually cautious: Most marketers compile those disparate elements of verification on a document that’s kept locked up until a game is over. All that’s needed is the document — not the individuals — to verify winning game pieces. “The security of the identifying characteristics is more important before and during a game than after” to foil theft, says a senior games agency executive.

It’s unlikely that the third security change — randomly rotating suppliers’ roles from game to game — will affect McDonald’s marketing consistency, since shops keep creative assignments. Tapping different staffers for security execution won’t affect creative strategy or agencies’ overall roles, says Watson.

Winning Time had the same kind of big-name prize pool as past McDonald’s games, including cash ($50 to $100,000), cars and dates with celebs Tony Stewart, Kobe Bryant, and Venus and Serena Williams. But some key mechanics were different. There was no collect-and-win element, and game pieces were distributed only in-store and via mail-in request. Past games also distributed game boards and game pieces in FSIs; in fact, McDonald’s Monopoly games seeded one high-value instant-win game piece in an FSI, and another on food packaging. (FSIs also distributed Monopoly game boards to as many people as possible.)

Creative strategy, not security, prompted the changes, says Marketing Store Senior VP Dean Govostis: “Winning Time was about giving people a break, so we delivered fun in an easy way — with an instant-win, done in-store. It had nothing to do with security.”

Redemption for all non-food prizes continues through June 10. For the first time, McDonald’s mails an official “redemption envelope” to consumers who call its toll-free number with a high- or mid-level winning game piece. (Players could get redemption envelopes in restaurants in the past.) Calling for an official envelope “helps us manage the income of pieces and monitor where they are in the verification process,” Watson explains. “We know when to expect a potential winner to come in.”

Most marketers let winners mail game pieces via certified mail, which can be traced. “There’s no reason [for an official envelope] but to annoy the winner,” says the senior games agency exec.

McDonald’s Winning Time rules strongly urged potential winners not to give game pieces (except for food prizes) to any McDonald’s employee. That’s standard for Big Mac, which redeems only food and prizes under $20 in-store. Winning Time’s smallest non-food prize was $50.

A bold-faced notice in the rules warned consumers: “Important: Any person attempting to forge game materials or defraud McDonald’s in any way in connection with this game will be prosecuted to the fullest extent permitted under the law.” Such warnings are common for coupons, less so for games. This one was stronger than most.

“A warning is a nice thing to scare people off, but that’s its only value,” says Winston & Strawn attorney Stephen Durchslag. “Marketers still have the same rights under the law” whether they warn players or not.”