McDonald's Hidden Campaign

McDonald’s made gaming history with the first-ever Easter egg in 1973, but how could they reveal this hidden legacy to today’s audience? To reconnect with a new generation of gamers, McDonald’s and their lead agency TBWA teamed up with The Invaders to bring this milestone to life.

Rebooting the first easter egg

In the early days of gaming, a developer unknowingly created a cultural phenomenon with Moonlander by hiding a McDonald’s restaurant in the game—the very first Easter egg! Easter eggs have since become iconic, popping up in movies, music, and nearly every modern game, enticing fans to hunt for hidden secrets.

Many don’t know McDonald’s was behind this gaming first, so it was time to share their heritage with the world. Enter Dutch streamers Djuncan and Jeremy Frieser, who hosted a hidden code challenge in their streams. Viewers pieced together “1973,” and the first 12 to enter the code on a special McDonald’s website won a meet & greet at TwitchCon in Rotterdam.

At the convention, the McDonald’s booth showcased the world’s first Easter egg to 15,000 eager visitors, kicking off the next phase of the campaign: Easter eggs in the McDonald’s app. TBWA added Easter egg challenges in the app’s mini-game that, upon completion, rewarded users with discount codes and other rewards.

Results

The TwitchCon booth was a standout hit, drawing massive lines and capturing the attention of international streamers like EsfandTV and Jinnytty, exposing hundreds of thousands of viewers to the McDonald’s Easter egg story live on Twitch.

Over 10,000 TwitchCon visitors saw the booth in person, with about 1 in 6 scanning the QR code for a closer look at the Hidden Booth. Posts by Jeremy Frieser and Djuncan, plus the campaign’s hero video, soared past expectations, hitting over 6 million impressions. The Hidden Campaign section in the McDonald’s app attracted 405,000 unique visitors, engaging with Easter egg mini-games and rewards.