McDONALD'S TIMES SQUARE BACON POLL

McDonald’s has a proven track record of making a strong impact and capturing public attention. In their latest initiative, they sought to amplify the visibility of their Bacon campaign by engaging viewers in a unique way: they wanted to invite voters to weigh in on whether their burgers would be enhanced by the addition of bacon. To achieve this, we leveraged the advanced social media capabilities of Sprinklr to develop an innovative animated poll. This dynamic poll was prominently featured across Times Square, ensuring maximum exposure and interaction with a broad audience.

ABOUT THE BACON POLL

DISCOVERING THE NEED

As a long-time customer and partner, McDonald’s presented us with an exciting challenge: to develop a video utilizing our Sprinklr Display technology. They planned to showcase this through various digital out-of-home (DOOH) platforms, beginning with Times Square. At that time, our Display technology lacked the animation capabilities required to meet McDonald’s high expectations. To address this, we meticulously storyboarded an animation designed to captivate and engage passersby.

FRAMING THE CHALLENGE

Audience

Billboards in Times Square offer the opportunity to display your photo or video for 15 seconds every hour on a selected day. Given the high foot traffic and constant movement in Times Square, this means that viewers will have only a brief 15-second window each hour to see your content. Considering the fast-paced environment, where people frequently move past the rotating billboards, ensuring your message stands out within that limited timeframe is crucial

BUILDING THE BLOCKS

From a data perspective, the approach was straightforward. We proposed using unique hashtags (#TeamClassics vs. #TeamBacon) to track and quantify mentions. We implemented macros to curate social media posts and automatically count the mentions of each hashtag, while filtering out spam and bot-generated content.

To develop the animation, I revisited my skills as a rich media designer. Ensuring precise timing and smooth animation involved breaking down the elements and utilizing CSS keyframes for animation. Ultimately, the animation featured a dynamic chart that displayed live polling results, providing real-time feedback on the campaign’s progress.

Final iteration of the Wall (2020)

This experience presented both a significant challenge and an opportunity for growth. The development of animation for our display enabled us to explore and identify potential upgrades and enhancements for our product. This process not only pushed the boundaries of what we could achieve with our technology but also provided valuable insights. We will discuss these suggestions with the product engineering team and incorporate them into the design for the next release.

WHAT DID WE LEARNED?