McDonald's PH puts the spotlight on cyclists with new campaign

McDonald’s Philippines has transformed its ‘drive-thrus’ into ‘ride-thrus’ in a pedal-powered campaign which aims to turn McDonald’s restaurants into cycling refuelling stations on biking journeys.

Done in partnership with Leo Burnett Group Manila, ‘Ride the Arches’ sees McDonald’s restaurants including bike repair and e-bike charging stations, integrated bike racks, dining ledges and bicycle-safe ‘ride-thrus’.

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As there are four bicycle owners for every car owner in the Philippines, these facilities aim to address a shortage of bike-friendly infrastructure and provide a safe place for cyclists to take breaks.

McDonald’s launched ‘bike & dine’ facilities during the pandemic after seeing a surge in bike usage across the country,” said Kenneth S. Yang, CEO and president of McDonald’s Philippines.

“We saw an opportunity to improve the customer experience for our two-wheeled customers and be an advocate for sustainable mobility - encouraging more customers to ride,” he added.

To kick off ‘Ride the Arches’, McDonald’s challenged cycling groups nationwide to create routes that loop from arch to arch, with McDonald’s as the start and end point. It also recruited cycling influencers to create and share their favourite routes on popular cycling apps such as Strava or Komoot.

To raise awareness for the campaign, McDonald’s also hosted a series of community bike rides called #TourDeMcDo. They provided free meals, special cyclist meals, and merchandise for those who share the best photos or who rode the most kilometres.

“We loved the idea of using McDonald’s scale, infrastructure and operations to support a vast community of bike enthusiasts, adding value with rewards, and creating an always-growing network of routes that lead across our stunning country,” said Raoul Panes, chief creative officer, Leo Burnett Group Manila and Publicis Groupe.

“By incentivising cyclists to ‘Ride the Arches’, McDonald’s has become the gateway to discovering some of the most beautiful places in the Philippines,” he explained.

A global franchise such as McDonald’s must tailor their campaigns to appeal to country-specific audiences. In Singapore, it created a new close friends list of influencers to announce the return of its well-loved McGriddles sandwiches on Instagram in February this year.

Rumors began floating on social media at the time that some had been added to McDonald's close friends list when influencer Darshen took to TikTok to share a screengrab of his addition.

It was later revealed as a ploy to creatively release the fast-food giant's McGriddles as expected. 

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