When McDonald’s, the world’s leading food service organisation, serving more than 69 million people each day, decided to launch four new and uniquely flavoured burgers in the UAE in 2012, the company’s choice of exclusive print media partner to drive the launch campaign was obvious: Khaleej Times.

Clearly, such a remarkable launch initiative also called for an equally creative print advertising strategy.

Working with McDonald’s and its agency, UM7 (part of the MCN Group), Khaleej Times advertising sales team strategised a captivating, eye-catching campaign to reach the extensive readership base of Khaleej Times.

The four new burger varieties – Chinese, Arabic, Mexican, and Spanish – created a market buzz for McDonalds’s between February 28 and April 24, 2012.

Khaleej Times had the nation talking when the leading broadsheet daily made a dramatic makeover in tune with the individual launch of the four new delicacies. The entire print run of the daily, with more than 90,000 copies, had a dedicated, eyeball-grabbing front page, creatively designed to feature content in the language that matched the flavour!

For the first time, the daily had a Chinese language front page, replicating the original layout and using dummy text in Chinese. The same creative approach was followed with front pages in Arabic, Mexican, and Spanish, timed to mark the arrival of the new flavours in the market.

The excitement continued in the inner pages, too: Following the teaser advertisement on the front page, page two announced the launch of the burger, its flavour and origin, in English.

This first-of-its-kind print campaign in the UAE created an unprecedented media buzz with tweets and Facebook posts on social media, and awed marketing personnel calling up the advertising team at Khaleej Times.

Khaleej Times is proud to associate with creative agencies and clients who are looking to push the envelope with compelling strategies that not only yield business results but also impress the public with the power of creativity.

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