Smart PR: McDonald’s “$1 Million Dollar Dice Roll”



2009 October, 6th
Mihaela Lica
Mihaela Lica
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In partnership with NBC and Hasbro, McDonald’s brings back the MONOPOLY® Game at McDonald’s®, which will give customers the chance to play for huge prizes featuring the daily “$1 Million Dollar Dice Roll” and a $100,000 Online Jackpot Sweepstakes. Other prizes include McDonald’s food, US$50 or US$500 Shell Nitrogen Enriched Gift Cards, Xbox 360® Entertainment Systems, free Boingo® Wi-Fi at more than 11,000 Wi-Fi enabled McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. and My Coke Rewards® Points.

NBC gives McDonald’s a huge PR boost for this campaign, although McDonald’s Corp. “is paying NBC a premium above standard 30-second ad rates to weave their products into the 10 p.m. program, according to Michael Pilot, the network’s head of sales” (via Bloomberg).

According to Douglas Freeland, director of marketing for McDonald’s USA, the MONOPOLY Game at McDonald’s is already a highly anticipated part of pop culture that McDonald’s customers love: “This year is more exciting than ever, with customers getting the chance to win $1 million every day.”

To get the chance to participate in the day “$1 Million Dice Roll” on NBC, McDonald’s customers can enter codes from collected Game Pieces at www.playatmcd.com. Players can watch each dice roll at the same site.

The MONOPOLY Game at McDonald’s is also available through a Facebook application where players can enter codes from their personal Facebook page, but they still have to go to www.playatmcd.com to complete registration. Players can also take their Game play “on the go” by entering Game codes via a text-enabled mobile phone to “96363″ but must go online to complete the registration.

The game updates can be followed on Twitter too: @McDonalds.

The 2009 Game is available at participating McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. beginning October 6 through November 2, or while supplies last, and online at PlayatMcD.com through November 16. The MONOPOLY Game at McDonald’s is open to residents of the U.S., Canada, Guam and Saipan. The online Game is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada. For complete details and official Game rules, visit www.playatmcd.com.

This smart PR campaign will bring McDonald’s massive exposure online (where its official twitter account is now numbering only 1081 followers) via social networks, but also on television – given the daily “$1 Million Dice Roll” on NBC.

Source: The 2009 MONOPOLY(R) Game at McDonald’s(R) Makes Every Day a Potential $1 Million Dollar Day

Feature image courtesy Cheril.com

About the Author

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Mihaela Lica is senior partner at Pamil Visions PR and editor at Everything PR. She is a widely cited authority on search engine optimization and public relations issues (BBC News, Force for Good, Reuters and others), with an experience of over 8 years in online PR. Mihaela writes occasionally for SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, and other online publications. Follow Mig on Twitter or send her an email at mig [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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There Are 3 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Matt Keegan on 6 October 2009:

    McDonald’s is smart! They got their advertising campaign right first, then they began to fix their menu. Their coffee is outstanding and their choice of lower fat meals is an improvement.

  2. Comment by Matha on 29 October 2009:

    Ok omg people stop eating Mcdonals!!!!!! Do you want to great freaking fat and obese!!!! GOD!!!!!!

  3. Comment by Phil Butler on 29 October 2009:

    @ Matha, LOL – I think it is too late for most people, the clown has taken them down.