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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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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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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Red Bull is launching a new free social media tool called Shout/out, which incorporates speed-reading techniques to turn users’ text into ‘flash card’ messages, removing the constraints imposed by, for example, Twitter’s 140-word character limit.

Shout/out launched to the public for the first time two weeks ago at GLA x LDN in Glasgow, which is part of Red Bull’s Music Academy UK Tour. Created by agency The Marketing Store, Shout/out is supposed to be “a new disruptive social media tool,” according to a launch press release, which continues: “The disruptive platform will be used as a fun and innovative way for fans, as well as Red Bull athletes and artists, to broadcast their experiences live from Red Bull events. Shout/out provides each post with unique standout, helping users words cut through the clutter of boring, uninteresting or sponsored posts and get noticed by fans and peers alike.”

Shout/out is completely customisable and works by letting users type in their message into the Shout/out platform on the Red Bull website, which can be found here: http://www.redbull.com/uk/en/music/stories/1331824298133/grime-a-side-semi-finals-dates. The tool then renders the words as an animated speed reading gif, where each word appears in rapid sequential order but is still readable by the human eye. Red Bull then gives users the option to customise the post with imagery before they share it online.

Chris Tyas, head of digital at The Marketing Store, says: “The need to express yourself and be heard is a key part of what makes us human. However, the full power and emotion of the written word is slowly being diluted as Facebook and Twitter specifically engineer their platforms to capitalise on promoted content, and in doing so reduce the impact of organic content. The Marketing Store and Red Bull decided to take a stand and reclaim social feeds for the consumers. We’re pleased to have worked with Red Bull to create this world first, to help people express themselves better, get noticed, and give their words wings.”

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McDonald’s has launched the latest version of its long-running Monopoly promotion, Monopoly Prize Choice in the UK and is about to launch a different Monopoly-themed game in the US.

It is the 11^th year in a row that McDonald’s UK has teamed up with global toy and game company Hasbro to create a Monopoly themed promotion. In Monopoly Prize Choice, players will have the chance to win over 55 million prizes, the largest pool of prizes McDonald’s has ever offered.

The big difference this year is that prize winners are being given more of a choice in what they get – for example, players can win a holiday and choose between jetting off to California, Thailand or New Zealand, as well as choosing trips and activities to get involved in when they land. Winners of a Mini Cooper, can choose from the 3-door Hatch, Countryman or Clubman.

The choice element also extends to the smaller prizes on offer: so, for example, winners of one of the food prizes on offer can choose between a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder, McFlurry or Cheeseburger.

The Marketing Store, which has been working on the McDonald’s Monopoly promotions for years, has developed the new campaign concept, after consumer research showed McDonald’s customers cherish life experiences over material possessions.

The prize pool has therefore been refreshed with this in mind, with specially selected prizes to ensure winners have an unforgettable experience.

The multimedia marketing campaign for the promotion showcases choice at every touchpoint, including out of home, packaging, in-store, social posts, community management and website, all designed to bring the concept of choice to life.

Working with Leo Burnett London, choice has been activated through a TV advertising campaign that gives viewers the power to choose what their TV adverts look like each week. Through the use of Twitter polls, viewers can choose from a range of thrilling and daring stunts inspired by the prize pool.

Steve Howells, Head of Marketing at McDonald’s, said, “For the 11th year of McDonald’s Monopoly, we wanted to re-invigorate the promotion and make it bigger and better than ever before. With choice at every level of the prize pool, we are empowering our customers by giving them a say in every win; from choosing their holiday destination all the way through to choosing between a Cheeseburger and a McFlurry.”

Howells adds: “With millions of prizes to be won, the theme of choice is brought to life across all of our marketing activity, and we are hugely excited to be putting the power in the hands of our customers by allowing them to choose what our next TV advert looks like each week.”

Sav Evangelou, Executive Creative Director at The Marketing Store, said, “We aimed to create a brand experience more than a promotion because customers said they loved the experience of gameplay. In 2015 when we gave customers props and prompts like wearable Mr Monopoly moustaches, they captured the experience and shared it across their social networks, so we’re keen to see how customers will respond to a campaign that gives them even more to talk about.”

Monopoly Prize Choice will build on the success of the 2015 Golden Chances Monopoly game, which awarded a record 9.3 million prizes and delivered 18.5 million online entries.

The Marketing Store will also support the promotion with online and mobile gameplay and offer more ways to engage on social media following last year’s 75,000 direct interactions across Twitter and Facebook, and 18m online game plays.

Additionally, McDonald’s will run a Monopoly Prize Choice game for McDonald’s 100,000 UK restaurant employees, which will be live in parallel with the consumer promotion.

In the US, McDonald’s will be introducing Money Monopoly – with instant win cash prizes plus a grand prize draw for $1m – on March 29^th.

McDonald’s first linked up with game company Hasbro to license the Monopoly intellectual property rights for a game in 1987 and has been running Monopoly-based promotions ever since.

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