As COVID-19 swept across the nation, McDonald’s SoCal wanted to make a bold statement to support local relief efforts. R&CPMK responded by leading a campaign that would mobilize 700+ locally owned and operated restaurants to honor first responders and position the brand as a leader in giving back to the communities it serves. SCALABILITY GOES A LONG WAY A competitive audit revealed QSRs were rolling out fragmented offers for first responders: waitlist for free burritos, donuts on Mondays. Leveraging the size and strength of McDonald’s Southern California system, we made it simple: First responders, your breakfast is on us – at any of our 700+ locally owned and operated restaurants, in all seven SoCal counties, for the foreseeable future. With paid media restrictions in place, R&CPMK took a local earned media approach to drive visibility around McDonald’s small business owners and reinforce their position as pillars of their community, messaging the offer as franchisee-led. Our team secured and coordinated opportunities for SoCal owner-operators to take visible action by delivering breakfast to local emergency healthcare workers and first responders. In just a few days of the “Breakfast On Us” program, McDonald’s SoCal restaurants served more than 90,000 cups of free coffee and 95,000 free Egg McMuffin sandwiches. During a May 5 press conference to provide the daily coronavirus briefing with L.A. County officials, Mayor Garcetti personally thanked McDonald’s owner-operator Veronica Sanchez-Soto for bringing breakfast to the first responders at the City of L.A. Emergency Operations Center on two separate occasions (both coordinated by R&CPMK).

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