McDonald's Lunar New Year campaign taps into AI, AR technology - Nation's Restaurant News

McDonald’s has recruited award-winning integer contented creator Karen X Cheng for its Lunar New Year campaign. McDonald’s run features originative designs by Cheng applied to an augmented world filter, a metaverse acquisition and a commercialized that uses artificial intelligence.

On Instagram, users tin acquisition the modulation from the Year of the Tiger (2022) to the Year of the Rabbit (2023) done a 3D AR filter. On Spatial, the run volition widen to the metaverse with a virtual acquisition that rings successful the caller twelvemonth with a creation enactment Jan. 25, an evening with Cheng (in avatar form) Feb. 2, and more. Finally, the commercialized is 1 of the archetypal to incorporated NeRF (neural radiance fields) technology, according to the company, which uses AI to make a 3D country utilizing Cheng's designs. Viewers tin scan an on-screen QR codification to acquisition the featured artwork arsenic an AR filter.

"We cognize our fans unrecorded astatine the intersection of innovation and civilization and that's wherever McDonald's needs to conscionable them," Elizabeth Campbell, McDonald's elder director, taste engagement strategy, said successful a statement. "Our collaboration with Karen X Cheng offers new, tech-forward ways to acquisition the Year of the Rabbit portion besides honoring the bequest of the vacation and uplifting the AAPI community. The Golden Arches is arrogant to kickstart the caller twelvemonth with an interactive run that invites our fans to go progressive participants successful a planetary taste celebration." 

McDonald's collaboration with Cheng, whose videos person generated implicit 500 cardinal views, marks the latest successful a drawstring of personage partnerships the marque has leveraged passim the past mates of years to tap.

“What you’ve seen implicit the past respective years for america is conscionable uncovering much ways we tin link our equities … our acquisition with what’s going connected successful culture. All of these antithetic things amusement america a reminder that we are charged with shepherding and stewarding 1 of the astir fantastic equities successful the satellite and we’ve got to find ways to proceed to support it fresh,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said during the company’s Q3 net call.

The enactment has paid off, generating much traffic, buzz and sales at the chain. Earlier this month, McDonald’s noted it volition proceed to maximize its selling strategy arsenic portion of its Accelerating the Arches 2.0 plan.

“Culturally applicable campaigns are driving maturation and elevating the full brand. We volition proceed to thin into that strategy and standard platforms crossed markets to find caller ways to pat into the zeitgeist and person amusive with our customers,” the institution said.

The Lunar New Year run was crated by IW Group for McDonald’s. The Lunar New Year marks the opening of the calendar twelvemonth based connected satellite cycles and is wide celebrated successful East and Southeast Asia. This year’s Lunar New Year begins Jan. 22 and kicks disconnected the Year of the Rabbit.

Contact Alicia Kelso astatine [email protected]