Pay with cans at McDonald! [ambient marketing]

Today I’m going to share an old – but too interesting to be forgotten – ambient marketing campaign that McDonald’s organised in Sweden a couple of years ago. The initiative was focused on empty drink cans that could be used as currency in every McDonald’s fast food. Empty cans to buy burgers, can you believe that? 😀

To develop its creativity for this ambient marketing campaign, McDonald’s started from the fact that in Sweden it is possible to gain one kronor for each recycled empty drink can. Considering this information and the presence, in parks and music festivals, of many empty cans plus many young people with empty wallets, the fast food brand had this fantastic idea to exploit the situation and help the young and the environment in one fell swoop.

The concept of this ambient marketing campaign, in fact, consists of allowing people to pay with cans for hamburgers [10 cans each], cheesburgers [10 cans each] and Big Macs [40 cans each], just bringing them into one of its stores using a specific waste bag that was distributed on the street. McDonald’s could then exchange the cans for cash at the recycling depot.

Other than the very creative idea, this activity was innovative because of the transformation of outoor posters into bag dispensers. Have a look at the picture to better understand the new function of this old medium. 😉

[via]