In June Twitter France held a #BestofTweets award ceremony celebrating great creativity. The 'Client' prize was awarded to the McDonald's (@FritesPotatoes) for its ‎‎#FritesPotatoes campaign. This used Twitter Insights to launch an unexpected product. The campaign was produced by the agencies DDB° Paris and OMD.

The opportunity

The ‎#FritesPotatoes product was created following experiences of French McDonald’s customers that were shared on Twitter as they questioned whether they have fries or potato wedges with their burger. Having to choose between these two products is a real dilemma. To resolve the debate, McDonald’s fulfilled every indecisive person’s dream and launched ‘Frites-Potatoes’, a carton containing both fries and potato wedges, in every one of its restaurants in France.

The strategy

By announcing the arrival of the ‘Frites-Potatoes’ on 1st April, the McDonald’s strategy played heavily on people’s doubts: was it just another April Fool’s Day joke, or would ‘Frites-Potatoes’ really be available in restaurants? For one week, the brand behaved as if it was a joke. Then, the night before the product launch, McDonald’s revealed that ‘Frites-Potatoes’ would indeed be available to buy – but, to ensure high demand, for four days only.

Best practices

1. Start with a customer insight

McDonald’s recognised a popular topic of conversation amongst their customers early on: how do you decide between fries and potato wedges?

2. Join the discussion prior to launch

The brand joined the conversation by responding to Tweets in the fries/potato wedges debate. McDonald’s also enabled its customers to express their opinions via a conversational card, which encouraged people to use the #FritesPotatoes hashtag.

3. Make a big splash

The brand used the power of First View and Promoted Tweets to spark engagement, and maximise impact. This helped McDonald's generate earned media and extend the reach of the campaign.