According to Kenneth Yang, President & CEO of McDonald’s Philippines, “our basic commitment at McDonald’s has always been about generating meaningful, feel-good moments for our customers and staff, and making a difference in the community.” Together with his father, Chairman and Founder Dr. George Yang, Mr. Yang, who is the majority owner and master franchise holder, has always been passionate about fostering great experiences through the brand’s products and services as well as in how it interacts and connects with its clients.
Through the years, these initiatives have not only touched the emotions of Filipinos but have also resulted in brand and economic growth—even in trying times like the pandemic. With its reliable, high-quality cuisine, cutting-edge services, assistance for its employees and underserved communities, and role as a partner of the government in battling the pandemic, McDonald’s has stayed resilient and maintained its recovery momentum heading into 2022.
Demonstrating how its campaigns and initiatives have become a force for good, McDonald’s Philippines recently won several awards at the recently concluded APAC Tambuli Awards. Organized from Manila by the School of Communication of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) in collaboration with local and international industry partners, the Tambuli Awards focus on mainstream brand campaigns that celebrate humanity, inspire purpose, and deliver results.
Committed to uplift the poor and marginalized sectors, McDonald’s launched a corporate campaign “Serving communities with good food and kindness” to highlight how the QSR giant leveraged its scale, operations and employees to gather support from the government, stakeholders, and partners to help those communities in need.
This campaign won in the Corporate Purpose category, Hunger and Poverty, a new award category that highlights the reason for why a business exists, as reflected in its mission, vision, goals, strategic direction, culture, and practices, for the common good of its employees, other stakeholders, and the communities they serve.
Reflecting McDonald’s commitment to promoting nation-building while developing a sense of responsibility among Filipinos, the Voter Registration Countdown took the Bronze in the Humanity and Culture Category for Responsible Citizenship. This campaign encouraged citizens to exercise their right to vote by offering a generous discount voucher on McDonald’s meals as an incentive for registering.
Also recognized was the Share the Light campaign, McDonald’s omnibus holiday campaign, which took customers on a Ride-Thru Christmas Lights Show experience; brought community cheer through Share-A-Meal; and delighted customers with holiday desserts and Coke aluminum cup collectibles. The campaign garnered a Bronze in the Media category – Brand Experience and Activation for the Drive-Thru Light show and was a finalist for the digital, social, and e-commerce category.
On the other hand, McDonald’s tribute to mothers on Mother’s Day, in the form of a touching video ‘A Mother’s Slumber’ that enjoined Filipinos to reciprocate their moms’ efforts by giving her a day of rest, melted many hearts and eventually became a Finalist in the Creative Category for Brand Storytelling.
“We are honored to have our initiatives well received by industry experts both here and abroad just as they have resonated well with our customers. This recognition by the APAC Tambuli serves as an inspiration for us to continue delivering feel-good moments and uplifting brand experiences for our customers, employees, and the community through good and bad times,” Mr. Yang shared.
Another feat for the company was to have McDonald’s Marketing Manager Ashley Santillan, the master orchestrator behind the brand’s major launches in 2021 and a strong advocate of inclusivity, to be named as one of the two Young Marketing Leaders of the Year. Even before diversity, inclusion, and equality became buzzwords, Ashley had already been working on bringing these values to life in her campaigns, such as the 2019 McDonald’s Mother’s Day thematic video ‘Story of Us’ which welcomed all kinds of families— including single mothers; and ‘McDeliverBack’, a campaign that gave recognition and showed appreciation to the underrepresented delivery riders. Her pursuit for creative excellence and passion for purpose has resulted in consistent delivery of results for the business, the brand, and McDonald’s customers.
Without the collaboration and assistance of McDonald’s partner agencies, Leo Burnett Manila, TBWA Santiago Magada Puno, and Wunderman Thompson for creative services, Greenbulb Communications for public relations, and OMD Philippines for media, none of these things would be possible.
In addition to award-winning ads, the collaboration of the McDonald’s team, its partner agencies, and all those participating in the campaigns helped to produce long-lasting initiatives that reflected the brand’s mission and values.
