Mixed media case study.McDonald's: Dark marketing

By Adam Droitman, Director of Strategy, Crayon

A demonic force has entered the world of marketing. This underhanded, nefarious force is known as dark marketing, and it is threatening to take down the entire marketing industry as we know it!

Okay, maybe none of that is true -- but the phenomenon, dubbed dark marketing, has been getting some attention lately. Wired defines dark marketing as, "Discreetly sponsored online and real-world entertainment intended to reach hipster audiences that would ordinarily shun corporate shilling." Wired then references an incredibly creative initiative developed by AKQA for McDonald's called The Lost Ring.

The Lost Ring was an alternate reality game (ARG) that aimed to engage consumers who tend to be hard to reach through traditional means. This transmedia expose had gamers and bloggers (as well as a variety of consumers who live on the fringes of pop culture) seeking clues in order to unlock a mystery of epic proportions. It would take too long to review all the finer points of this initiative in this article (you can watch and read more about it on the site), as this multifaceted game blurred the lines between the real world and the digital world, weaving in and out of various types of media.

It is safe to say the game was effective, as consumers across the world were deeply engaged in The Lost Ring for nearly six months. From a marketing perspective, one of the most interesting elements of this initiative was the fact that The Lost Ring's creator, McDonald's, was barely present. McDonald's took a back seat and let the participants of the game tell the story. I don't have concrete evidence that McDonalds yielded a positive ROI from The Lost Ring; however, there are a number of factors that make this initiative appear to have been a success:

Extensive press

• Brandweek, The New York Times and many others sang the praises of this initiative.

Valuable media impressions created by consumers

• Consumer-created wiki
• Extensive Twitter conversations
• Consumer-created forums
• More than 2,000 photos tagged "lostring" and "thelostring" in Flickr
• Hundreds of clips on YouTube (both professional and user created)

These are just a few examples of the buzz The Lost Ring created, and it is hard to talk about this campaign without referencing McDonald's involvement. McDonald's created an experience for consumers that could only have left them with a feeling of gratitude toward the brand.

Thanks to iMedia for providing this article.