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McDonald?s iAd strategy helps solidify its mobile advertising reign

While many marketers test out Apple?s iAd network only once, fast food giant McDonald?s has unveiled its sixth campaign, which not only promotes the company?s new products, but takes advantage of the device?s capabilities to offer a more interactive experience.     

The company is running its iAd campaign through several applications, including Pandora?s iPhone app. McDonald?s has heavily relied on iAd in the past and has increasingly used the network to roll out enticing mobile advertising experiences.

"The McDonalds CBO campaign is quite well executed," said Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism, New York.

"The design layout of the campaign is not great as the product shots seem a little small for the ad unit on the main page and the words to define the CBO are very small," he said.

"The overall color scheme is a little bit too red and the text doesn't always stand out legibly."

Mr. Buckingham is not affiliated with McDonald's. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

McDonald's did not respond to press inquiries.

Interactive ad
The McDonald?s iAd reads ?The New CBO is Threemendous. What Will You Say About It.?

When consumers tap on the iAd, they can learn more about the new products, as well as the best words used to describe them such as ?ChowCheeseable.?

Through the campaign, consumers can define sandwiches such as the new McDonald?s carmelizedgrilled onions burger.

In addition to playing the interactive word game, users can also find the nearest McDonald?s location to try out the sandwiches for themselves.

The iAd campaign incorporates the device?s GPS technology to help consumers find the nearest location.

By doing so, McDonald?s is able to drive in-store traffic, and ultimately sales.

Past campaigns
Over the past few years, McDonald?s has been ramping up its iAd mobile strategy and taking advantage of the network to bolster engagement.

In 2010, the fast food giant used Apple?s iAd network to promote its McRib sandwich and engage consumers with quizzes, wallpaper images and an interactive map to find the closest location.

McDonald?s worked with its agency partner Tribal DDB on the campaign (see story).

This year, McDonald?s ramped up its mobile advertising strategy with an iAd campaign that promoted its extra value menu items and drove consumers to the nearest location to try them out (see story). 

Most recently, McDonald?s worked with Tribal DDB again to launch an iAd that centered on three engaging in-ad games designed to drive awareness and excitement around the McDonald?s Value Menu.

"It is fun to be able to create a new word from the selected descriptors for this new campaign," Mr. Buckingham said.

"Overall this campaign Could Be Optimized but its its not a bad campaign at all and will achieve its objectives to raise awareness of the new product and drive store traffic," he said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York