Hungerstation wins Cannes Creative Commerce plus...6 more innovative food-ordering campaigns

A snapshot look at an awarded campaign with a curated pick of past campaigns that use a similar creative approach in some way.

The Subconscious Order | HungerStation | Wunderman Thompson | 2023

Turn eye-tracking into options for food delivery based on subconscious appeal. The Saudi Arabian food delivery app HungerStation was awarded the Creative Commerce Grand Prix at this year's Cannes Lions Festival. The Subconscious Order campaign, created by Wunderman Thompson, Riyadh, used AI to assist users in selecting their food orders based on their subconscious cravings. The campaign involved loading images of HungerStation dishes onto the user's screen and analysing eye-tracking data to identify the most appealing meals. It was among the few examples of "biometric commerce" presented to the jury, including functions that allowed consumers to pay with their fingerprint or through eye scanning. Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, the jury president, emphasized the need for brands to provide meaningful value when handling consumers' sensitive data and praised this Grand Prix winning campaign for achieving this beautifully.

Order That Scene | McDonald's | TBWA\ | 2023

Turn streaming services into a way for people to order McDonald’s. Amsterdam agencies TBWA/Neboko and TBWA\X have launched "Order That Scene," a campaign that transforms streaming services into McDonald's delivery platforms. By scanning food items shown in films or series, users can order them through the McDonald's app, which automatically detects the scanned products. This culturally relevant campaign - targeting those who crave food while binge-watching -takes advantage of the prevalence of McDonald's products in movies and series and is the largest product placement campaign for McDonald's to date, without any direct spending on product placement or copyright. The campaign includes outdoor and social media elements that describe the films or series and provide the exact timecode of when a McDonald's product appears.

Food-Truck | McDonald's | Nord DDB | 2023

Turn digital billboards into digital food trucks to promote McDonald's new street-food-inspired Crafted Chicken burger. As part of the launch of their new Crafted Chicken burger, McDonald's Sweden took a fun approach to celebrate street food culture. They transformed DOOH billboards into digital food trucks, offering the public a chance to try the burger for free for 24 hours. These digital food trucks were set up near physical McDonald's restaurants, and guests could order by scanning a QR code. This triggered a digital chef to prepare a coupon for the new burger, which was sent directly to the McDonald's app. Customers would then complete the order in the app and collect their food from the nearby restaurant. This engaging OOH campaign not only highlights the backstory of the menu item and the impact of street food but also provides a fun and interactive way for people to try it out at no cost.

Challenge gamers to find food in the metaverse that looks like McDonald's items and replace it for the real thing! McDonald’s and Leo Burnett launched this open challenge to gamers in the Philippines called ‘Unbranded Menu’, encouraging them to hunt for McDonald’s ‘food-alikes’ within popular video games, and then swap their findings for actual McDonald’s items. The idea originated when gaming personality Alodia Gosiengfiao found a Big Mac-lookalike inside Grand Theft Auto V and posted a screengrab of it, challenging her followers to do the same. The campaign aims to connect with the Philippines’ 40+ million strong gaming community, with more gamers and streamers joining and sharing their discoveries using the hashtag #ThisIsMcDonalds

Turn video game basketball court into a way to get free food. Burger King launched an immersive virtual experience called "The Menu Court" in the hugely popular basketball game: NBA 2K21, aimed at engaging the gamer cohort during the pandemic. By combining interactivity and menu incentives, the campaign sought to appeal to an otherwise selective and ad-averse consumer group. Participants needed to download a certain mode depending on their PlayStation and then search "BK_TheMenuCourt" to access the Burger King-branded custom arena. Tougher shots on the court led to bigger rewards, with a free sandwich being the easiest to win, while a full meal with fries and a soda requires completing a shot from the middle of the court. This fun campaign shows how brands are thinking beyond traditional advertising to engage gamers and drive social media conversation.

The God Of Rain | KFC | Isobar | 2021

Turn to KFC on a rainy day with their rainy-day menu. KFC China faced issues with backlogs and delivery delays when its orders increased by 10% during rainy weather. To address this, KFC replaced its regular menus with discounted meal combos, which were promoted through its mobile ordering app. These simplified menus made it easier for KFC to prepare meals on time, resulting in fewer delays and less pressure on its staff. The discounted menus were automatically triggered based on real-time weather and location data. KFC China partnered with Taiwanese rock star Jam Hsiao, known as 'The God of Rain,' to promote the campaign. Within the first two weeks, over 850,000 people used the rainy-day menu, with a peak of 200,000 users in a single day with the campaign leading to a 4% increase in rain delivery orders.

Stories Ordering | Burger King | LOLA Mullen Lowe | 2018

Challenge people to create their perfect Whopper using Instagram polls. Burger King Spain launched a unique social campaign on Instagram called "Stories Ordering," allowing users to customize their own Whopper burger. Nine Instagram stories featured different Whopper ingredients, and users could modify them through polls. Completed polls generated special coupons sent via direct message, allowing users to redeem their customized Whoppers for free at Burger King locations. The collected data from the polls influenced the creation of a limited-time menu item called the InstaWhopper, based on users' preferences. The campaign generated over 270,000 interactions, nearly 35,000 customized Whoppers, and gained 5,000 new Instagram followers for Burger King. The initiative was a collaboration between Burger King and its agency, LOLA MulllenLowe Madrid.