McDonald’s has signed a deal with The Smiley Company, master licensee for the Rubik’s Cube, for the iconic 1980s puzzle toy to feature in McDonald’s Happy Meal offers in multiple countries.

In a deal brokered by global customer engagement agency The Marketing Store, which has worked closely with McDonald’s for many years, the multi-territory promotion will appear in McDonald’s restaurants across various European countries, the Middle East, Africa and North America.

The campaign launches in France this month (July 2018) and will then roll out across other territories from August through November 2018, including Italy, Spain, Austria, UAE and Canada, amongst many others.

It is not clear yet whether it will be running in the UK, where restrictions are in force on the use of toys and licensed characters to promote food and drink products. Promomarketing has asked McDonald’s for clarification on this point.

Unusually, the Happy Meal Box will be transformed from its traditional tented ‘house’ design into a Cube shape to mirror the Rubik’s Cube for the duration of the campaign.

Children enjoying a Happy Meal at participating McDonald’s will have a choice of four different bespoke Rubik’s Cube toys; including square 2×2 cubes and rectangular 3×2 cubes as well as rounded versions of these, with a total of 12 different toys to choose from.

The unique promotion will also feature a product mash-up between Rubik’s and a major Hollywood animation film studio’s properties appearing on the toys alongside the iconic Rubik’s Cube colours and trademark twist and turn mechanism.

Nicolas Loufrani, CEO at The Smiley Company, says: “We have worked closely with The Marketing Store and the whole team at McDonald’s and are really pleased with the innovative and high quality content of this campaign. From the robust mini Cubes and the unique Rubik’s Cube shaped Happy Meal box to the TV ads and bespoke games created for the Happy Studio app, every aspect of the promotion has been crafted to perfectly leverage the Rubik’s brand mission of encouraging children to PLAY SMART and further our goal of bringing intelligent play to kids of all ages.”

The Smiley Company will be leveraging the partnership with McDonald’s to drive the ongoing Rubik’s brand extension program and “to realise our plans to take the brand to new consumers, with particular emphasis on engaging the brand with children aged from 3-8 years old, as our brand mission continues to focus on creating new toy partnerships for this age group,” Loufrani adds.

To support the promotion’s launch in the markets where it will be appearing, there will be a 360° marketing campaign, supported by a TV advertising featuring the Happy Meal mascot ‘HAPPY’ playing with a Rubik’s Cube in a 26 and 13 second spots. There will also be series of ‘How to Solve’ short video tutorials launched on social channels to help kids solve the bespoke Happy Meal Rubik’s Cubes, and a McDonald’s Happy Studio app takeover.

Additional marketing materials will include in-store POS, branded balloons, colouring sheets, wall stickers and window decals which will help amplify the Rubik’s brand identity throughout the promotion.

The launch of the activation in France is being supported with an influencers’ campaign while other national markets will also see major marketing initiatives.

The Smiley Company is a brand licensing company which originated in France and which holds the intellectual property rights to the classic smiley face symbol face symbol in more than 100 countries (although not the United States, where the symbol originated).

In addition to the smiley symbol, it also holds licensing rights for Rubik’s Cube and related properties, and recently launched a major brand extension program for Rubik’s. This draws on Rubik’s iconicity, rich heritage and archive and the resurgence of retro gaming and geek culture, while utilising Smiley’s own industry leading design studio and world class distribution channels.

The company says global demand for Rubik’s is now at the highest levels since its launch in 1980 and a number of industry leading partners have already signed up across categories including apparel, back to school, gift, live events and attractions, partworks, promotions and publishing.

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Brands including alcohol-free Budweiser Prohibition Brew, Walkers Max Strong, Branston, Primula and Bodean’s have signed on as partners for National BBQ Week, a multi-brand experiential, sampling and marketing campaign which returns for the 22nd year from Monday May 28th.

The organisers say that National Barbecue Week is one of the UK’s top awareness weeks and has, since its launch in 1997, been a “catalyst for growth in the BBQ market” according to PR Week and also being “fundamental in changing consumer attitudes to BBQ” according to Mintel and The Grocer.

Launching on Spring Bank Holiday and running from 28th May until the 3rd of June, the awareness week will be incorporating a dynamic digital, PR and media focus set to reach over 25 million people. There will also be experiential sampling at the launch of London’s ‘Summer by the River’ festival from the 1st to the 3rd June, where a further 150,000 people will be exposed to the campaign.

Key sponsors for this year’s campaign are: Official Alcohol-Free Beer: Budweiser Prohibition Brew; Official Snack: Walkers Max Strong; Official Sauce: Branston; Official Cheese: Primula; and Official BBQ Restaurant: Bodean’s.

Competitions will be run through media and through social media channels including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook including the return of the BBQ Baptas. Consumers will be encouraged to send in videos of their fun barbecue or grilling technique and results, with the aim of winning a BBQ Bapta Award, a cash prize and a BarbiBox, full of product from the sponsors.

Along with the UK’s leading BBQ Website full of hints, tips, recipes and guides to ‘Being a Better BBQ’er’, there is also a Barbi Blog, with messages from the sponsors and chief GrillMaster, Brian George, founder of National BBQ Week.

George, who runs agency Grocery Gurus, says: “National BBQ Week is one of the UK’s biggest awareness weeks and has helped change consumer BBQ attitudes and usage from just 9 million in 1997 to over 130 million last year with the overall BBQ food and drink market being worth around £1.3 billion, up from just £150 million back in 1997.”

Grocery Gurus will also be organizing other multi-brand campaigns including WorldBeerathoN in October (to coincide with Octoberfest), Get Wine Wise in November, Mixorama (for at-home cocktails) in December, and National Wine Week, from 26th November to 2nd December.

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Leading savoury snack brand Golden Wonder is rewarding customers through a major on-pack promotion in partnership with Pizza Hut Restaurants.

During the campaign, everyone who buys a promotional pack is guaranteed a prize or reward from Pizza Hut Restaurants.  These will range from free pizzas, free desserts and free side orders to money-off vouchers for restaurant meals, with the reward worth much more than the price of the pack itself.

To enter, consumers must purchase a participating promotional pack of Golden Wonder during the promotional period, then visit www.winwithgoldenwonder.com and enter the unique 10 digits alpha/numerical code found on the back of individual promotional packs or on the inside of the outer wrapper for multipacks. They will also have to provide their name, date of birth, title, country of residence and a valid email address.

There are 1,500 prizes available to be won each day during the main promotional period (105,000 in total). Winners in England, Scotland, and Wales will win a voucher code for an individual Pizza Hut Restaurants pizza. Winners in Northern Ireland will win a £15 Pizza Hut gift card.

All entrants from England, Scotland, and Wales will receive a randomly selected Pizza Hut Restaurants voucher. These vouchers range from discounts off the bill of 25% or 33%, free desserts or free sides.

Matt Smith, marketing director for Golden Wonder, says:  “We want to reward all of our loyal stockists and consumers as our fully-flavoured crisps continue to attract new fans and re-engage those who have fond memories of the brand. Consumers are double winners when they choose Golden Wonder, benefitting from both the strong, punchy flavours and a prize from Pizza Hut Restaurants.  With lots of Pizza Hut Restaurant locations across the UK, no-one will have far to travel to enjoy their fully-flavoured meal out.”

The campaign is being supported by multi-channel marketing featuring TV advertising in Scotland and there will also be significant digital, social media and public relations activity in partnership with Pizza Hut Restaurants.  There is also specific trade support for the convenience sector including promotional offers and free POS.

Priten Mistry, commercial marketing manager of Pizza Hut Restaurants, adds:  “We are delighted to join with Golden Wonder for this promotion, which we believe will be beneficial for both Pizza Hut Restaurants and Golden Wonder.  Golden Wonder’s audience is complementary to ours and we believe that the combined investment in this joint campaign should help both brands to attract new consumers and gain traction in their respective markets.”

Golden Wonder, which was created in Scotland more than 70 years ago, is owned by Tayto Group Ltd, which is the biggest British-owned crisp and snack manufacturer, producing five million bags a day across its six UK sites.  The company remains family-owned and its headquarters are in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland.  In addition to Golden Wonder, its portfolio also includes Mr Porky, REAL Crisps, Jonathan Crisp, Portlebay Popcorn and Tayto, Northern Ireland’s number one crisp brand.

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Eco-cleaning pioneers Ecover is opening London’s first Rubbish Café Thursday 3rd May in Covent Garden. The Ecover Rubbish Café is currency free, only accepting recyclable plastic as payment, and will serve a zero-waste menu from eco-chef Tom Hunt.

It will be kitted out with a stylish upcycled décor inspired by eco-designer Max McMurdo and consumers will be invited to learn how to #LiveClean while they lunch in sumptuously upcycled surroundings. The two-day pop-up will serve up inspiration and ideas for simple swaps everyone can make to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic.

The Rubbish Café celebrates the arrival of Ecover’s new washing-up liquid range which comes in a new 100% recycled and 100% recyclable bottle. Free re-fills of washing-up liquid will be available – consumers simply have to bring along any old bottle.

The menu created by Tom Hunt, eco-chef and author of The Natural Cook includes:

• The Revolution Bowl – Spelt and rye grains with red kale, cranberries, hazelnuts, beetroot soya-yoghurt, roasted rhubarb and a pickled hen’s egg;
• The Mother Nature Bowl – Wild turmeric rice, cauliflower and leaves, golden sultanas, coriander, chaat masala, coconut (vegan);
• The Rubbish Bowl – Puy lentil salad with sprouting broccoli, dried apple, wild garlic pesto, pink peppercorns, feta and seaweed;
• Banana bread – made from saved bananas.

The vegetarian and vegan bowl food options will be served on a first come, first serve basis to ensure nothing goes to waste.

Consumers will also be able to swap their plastic for a coffee provided by Over Under.

Ecover says it is waging a war against plastic pollution. It believes that using plastic for a single-use is fundamentally wrong. In 2016 less than half of all plastic bottles were collected for recycling and only 7% of those were turned into new bottles. The resulting impact on waterways and marine life is horrifying with an estimated 12.7 million tonnes ending up in oceans each year.

Ecover’s mission is to challenge the perception that ‘rubbish’ has no value, encouraging people to consider their own plastic use and how they can make small positive changes to reduce their impact on the environment.

Ecover also leads by example – the Rubbish Café marks the launch of Ecover’s first 100% post-consumer recycled and 100% recyclable plastic washing-up liquid bottle, which has a 70% lower carbon footprint than a virgin plastic bottle.

Tom Domen, Global Innovation Lead at Ecover says: “We’ve been fighting for a greener clean at Ecover for the past 40 years. We believe that single-use, throwaway plastic culture has had its day. So, we’ve given our plastic packaging a serious rethink. Our new washing-up liquid bottle is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable – with a commitment that all our bottles will go this way by 2020. The Rubbish Café is part of our Clean World Revolution… to show the public the incredible value of putting plastics back into the recycling system to help close the loop on plastic production, minimising the amount of new plastic that is created. So besides serving up fantastic sustainable food at The Rubbish Cafe, we’ll be revealing small steps we can all make to benefit our environment so more can pledge to #LiveClean”.

Ecover is one of the largest producers of ecological cleaning products in Europe. Founded 39 years ago in Malle, Belgium, Ecover was among the first to put phosphate-free washing powder on the market which were only banned in 2013. With a rebellious spirit, experience and clever science, Ecover has developed vegan-friendly cleaning products with plant-based and mineral ingredients that help consumers clean their homes with great efficiency and minimal impact on our environment. These products are available in around 40 countries and Ecover’s contribution to the environment over time has been recognised by Time Magazine and the United Nations Environment Programme.

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The UK’s biggest selling stock brand, Knorr, has launched a new online tool, ‘Eat Your Feed’, an app which analyses a user’s Instagram feed and serves up a personalised selection of recipes based on their experiences.

Users just connect using their Instagram account and the Eat Your Feed bespoke technology suggests recipes personalised to their feed. Accessible on mobile, desktop or tablet, the tool suggests recipe ideas along with ingredients and cooking methods to create quick and tasty meals in the comfort of users’ own homes. They can save the recipes or, with a few clicks, add the ingredients (including Knorr products) to their shopping basket.

Creative digital agency AnalogFolk made Eat Your Feed possible by turning data from the Instagram post into a matching recipe from the Knorr recipe database. AnalogFolk used visual recognition and individual image data to build a bespoke AI algorithm, and trained it to understand posts and match to the perfect recipe.

Each Instagram image holds a very rich source of information. Every image has data that contains the time it was submitted, potentially a geolocation if the user added it and, of course, the caption. The location provides the city and country name, and the caption, containing phrases and keywords, supplies context.

For the image itself, AnalogFolk incorporated the IBM Watson Visual Recognition service to identify the scenes and objects in the picture – for example Nature, Beach, Lake, Snowboard, Dog etc.  This created a list of keywords that a bespoke prioritising algorithm scores and then finds the best match from the Knorr recipe database the perfect match.

The Eat Your Feed tool will be supported by the world’s first Instagram powered restaurant, created by Knorr’s PR agency W Communications, where traditional menus will be scrapped and instead diners will be served meals matched to their Instagram feeds. The one-of-a-kind pop-up dining experience takes place on Wednesday 11th April at Jones & Sons restaurant in Islington, North London. Once the technology has analysed each diner’s feed, it will then share personalised recipe suggestions with the Jones & Sons restaurant kitchen. The innovative dishes served at the restaurant will each match a special memory captured on Instagram.

Philippa Atkinson, Senior Brand Manager Knorr UK & Ireland, says: “Eat Your Feed is an innovative concept that showcases the transformative power of Knorr stocks to a new younger generation, adding twists to their favourite recipes or discovering new ones. We’re excited to be the first Instagram inspired recipe solution – using our consumers’ own posts to prompt recipes with real value and relevance we know they’ll love, as well as a reminder of the great adventures they’ve had in the past.”

The Knorr brand is owned by Anglo-Dutch food and household products company, which acquired it in 2000 when it bought Best Foods. Knorr makes a range of products including stocks and soup mixes.

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McDonald’s launches McDonald’s Monopoly Wiiiin, the latest version of its annual Monopoly promotion, on March 21st 2018. The promotion ends May 1st 2018.

This is the 13th consecutive year that McDonald’s has teamed up with Monopoly’s owner, global toy and game company Hasbro, for a promotion themed around the classic board game. The annual McDonald’s Monopoly campaign is one of the biggest promotions in the world, if not the biggest, in terms of prizes.

The promotion is open to consumers aged 16 or over who are UK, Isle of Man or Channel Islands’ residents. There is a No Purchase Necessary route for Northern Irish consumers.

There are four ways consumers can win prizes by collecting the game stickers which come with McDonald’s menu items:

• Instant Win – peel and reveal one of millions of prizes to win instantly. Prizes include £25,000 cash, MINI cars, Xbox One X game consoles, cameras, speakers, experience vouchers, cinema tickets, fashion vouchers and Sky passes.
• Collect to Win – collect and complete property sets from the classic Monopoly board to win prizes including £100,000 cash, holidays to Universal Orlando theme park, games consoles, speakers, NOW TV passes, fashion vouchers and experience vouchers.
• Online Win – all stickers carry a unique 10 character code which can be entered online at mcdonalds.co.uk/monopoly for the chance to win instant prizes every minute including cash, Deezer premium subscriptions and CeX vouchers, Sky Store vouchers and millions of other prizes.
• Finally, the ‘Got 10 Spares Game’ allows consumers to turn any 10 property sticker combinations into a Sky pass allowing them to get one day of Sky Sports or one month of Sky Entertainment, Sky Cinema or Sky Kids. Players can claim up to three passes during the lifetime of the promotion, but they have to be different.

The total prize pool on offer includes four lots of £100,000 (for getting both Mayfair and Park Lane), four lots of £25,000 in cash (instant win prizes), 20 MINIs, 20 Universal Orlando trips, 500 Xbox One X games consoles, 13,000 bundles of a NOW TV box and annual pass, Best Western Hotel breaks, Red Letter Day vouchers, Missguided or Mennace fashion vouchers, KitSound Wireless Speakers, Sony Action cameras, Mello skateboard kits, cinema tickets, PrezzyBox.com vouchers plus a range of online retailer discount vouchers and free McDonald’s menu items.

The promotion was created by The Marketing Store, which has been working on the McDonald’s Monopoly promotions for many years, with advertising created by Leo Burnett London.

Full terms and conditions and a full list of all prizes are available on the promotional website, monopoly.mcdonalds.co.uk.

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On-demand delivery service Deliveroo celebrated the fact that it has now delivered 10 million burgers in the UK since launch in 2013 with what it claims was the world’s first billboard made entirely out of burgers, all of which were free for passers-by to eat.

The four metre high, six metre wide structure was erected as part of the brand’s Eat More Amazing campaign, and follows Deliveroo’s announcement in December that burgers are the UK’s favourite takeaway meal. The double decker bus-sized billboard was constructed using thousands of burgers from some of Deliveroo’s most popular burger restaurant partners, including GBK, Byron, Bleecker Burger, Polo, and Beer + Burger. Vegetarian and chicken options were also available.

The activation was created and managed by PR agency Hope&Glory, working alongside creative production agency We Make Stuff Happen.

The burger billboard was open to the public from 12.00pm to 7.00pm (or while stocks lasted) on March 13^th at Ely’s Yard Street Food UK Ltd in The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in East London.

Emily Kraftman, Deliveroo’s Head of Marketing for UK and Ireland, says, “We know that the UK loves burgers as it’s one of the most popular dishes ordered on Deliveroo. That’s why we decided to celebrate this upcoming milestone delivery and remind people that every meal is a chance to eat more amazing.”

Deliveroo is an award-winning delivery service founded in 2013 by William Shu and Greg Orlowski. Deliveroo works with over 35,000 restaurants and over 30,000 delivery riders to provide food delivery services in over 200 cities across 12 countries, including Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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Every Sub made in Subway stores across the UK today (November 3^rd 2017) will trigger a 5p donation to a the Fare Share food bank charity, to help feed people in need.

The promotion marks World Sandwich Day and the fast food chain will also be handing out free Six Inch Subs to people who downloaded and registered the Subcard app by October 30^th. Anyone who did hit the deadline was rewarded with 500 points – the value of a Subway Sub – to spend today in store. If the points aren’t spent by midnight today, they will disappear.

FareShare has 20 regional centres in the UK focusing on providing nutritious meals to vulnerable people. Donations to the charity will be triggered both by purchases of Six-inch Subs and also by redemptions of the free sub offer both on World Sandwich Day and the day before.

All Subway Stores accepting Subcard are participating in the promotion.

Subway is the world’s largest submarine sandwich franchise, with more than 44,800 locations in more than 113 countries. It is a committed partner to the UK Government’s Public Health Responsibility Deal and is the only QSR to have endorsed eight of the nutrition-related pledges. The Subway brand has reduced salt, eliminated trans fats, displays energy information on menu boards, cut KJ/Kcal across the product range and increased access to fruit and vegetables as part of a balanced diet and reduced saturated fat.

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Burger King UK is to give away free Whopper sandwiches to the first 500 customers who turn up at its Leicester Square branch in Central London this Saturday night dressed as a clown, in a pre-Halloween stunt.

BK says the Scary Clown Night stunt is to mark the fact that clowns are the third most sought after Halloween costume of 2017. The promotion will run between 7.00pm and 3.00am on the evening of Saturday October 28^th and morning of Sunday October 29^th. Halloween falls on October 31^st.

The campaign will launch on social media and will include a ‘very scary’ video, directed by award-winning filmmaker Rodrigo Cortés – known for movies like `Buried´ starring Ryan Reynolds and `Red Lights´ starring Robert De Niro and Cillian Murphy. The creative agency behind the campaign is LOLA MullenLowe, Madrid.

Renato Rossi, Head of Marketing for Burger King UK, says: “The Burger King brand is known for welcoming all customers and putting the crown on everyone’s head. This Halloween, come like a clown to eat like a king!”

The Scary Clown Night video can be viewed here.

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McDonald’s launches McDonald’s Monopoly Win Win, the latest version of its annual Monopoly promotion, on March 22nd 2017. The promotion ends Tuesday May 2nd 2017.

This is the 12th consecutive year that McDonald’s has teamed up with Monopoly’s owner Hasbro for a game-themed promotion. McDonald’s has also announced that to celebrate the launch of the game promotion, it is bringing back the Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurry and Cadbury Caramel McFlurry products for a limited time.

This year sees McDonald’s and Hasbro offer customers a number of different ways to participate and win – including a new fourth way to play.

Each game sticker now has a multipurpose and allows customers the opportunity to win whatever way they play. These include:

• Instant Win – peel and reveal one of millions of prizes to win instantly
• Collect to Win – collect and complete property sets to win prizes
• Online Win – stickers carry a unique nine-digit code which can be entered online at mcdonalds.co.uk/monopoly for the chance to win cash every minute, Deezer premium subscriptions and CEX vouchers, plus millions of other prizes.

New for 2017, the fourth way to play allows customers to turn any 10 property sticker combinations into a Now TV pass with winners choosing between a one month’s Sky Cinema pass, a one month’s Entertainment Pass, a one month’s Kids pass or a one day Sky Sport’s pass.

Prizes on offer include four lots of £100,000 (for getting both Mayfair and Park Lane), four lots of £25,000 in cash (instant win prizes), 20 MINIs, 150 £1,500 Airtours vouchers, 500 Sony PlayStation 4 games consoles, 13,000 bundles of a NOW TV box and annual pass, Best Western Hotel breaks, Monopoly sets, Red Letter Day vouchers, BooHoo.com vouchers, KitSound Wireless Speakers, Sony cameras, Mello skateboard kits, cinema tickets, PrezzyBox.com vouchers plus discount vouchers and free McDonald’s menu items.

Steve Howells, Head of Marketing, Food and Beverages, at McDonald’s UK, said: “I know our customers excitedly await this promotion so I’m delighted to welcome back Monopoly at McDonald’s for a 12th year. We’ve listened to our customers and we know it’s frustrating when customers have stickers but not sets. I’m therefore excited to introduce this fourth way of playing, enabling customers to put these stickers to good use. I look forward to seeing some of our customers win big!”

McDonald’s Monopoly saw over 10 million prizes claimed last year.

The promotion was created by The Marketing Store, which has been working on the McDonald’s Monopoly promotions for many years, with advertising created by Leo Burnett London.

Full terms and conditions are available via monopoly.mcdonalds.co.uk/terms

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