McDonald's Augmented Reality

This morning I attended a McDonald's press conference that featured an all-star lineup: director James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, the company's global CMO, Mary Dillon, and its USA CMO, Neil Golden. As if that wasn't enough, I got to do it all from the comfort of my own desk.

OK, so the word "attended" is used loosely in this situation, but it was one of the cooler Web-based media calls I've ever been on.

Usually, when a brand puts together this kind of a media effort the announcement is big. Think: Church's move to give away thousands of dollars to unsuspecting consumers earlier this year or Quiznos' new CEO announcement a few years back. In those instances what you usually get is a conference number to dial into and then, if the presentation is really advanced, watch accompanying PowerPoint slides on your computer.

This press conference was different. McDonald's pulled out all the stops and presented the half-hour call in real time in a studio and beamed the live video feed to journalists across the world. Yes, the world.

All this work was to announce the brand's involvement in the new Fox sci-fi film "Avatar." Although Dillon wouldn't put a dollar amount on the company's efforts, they're clearly quite extensive. Let me tell you a bit about what they have in store for consumers across the globe.

• Photo backdrops in Latin American stores will allow McDonald's visitors to photograph themselves in Pandora, the alternate planet featured in the film. There will even be table-side augmented-reality elements.
• In Australia, diners can find hidden codes on their cups to unlock prizes online.
• European consumers have the always-popular option of uploading pictures to a special Web site that then turns their images into Na'vis, the strange, blue cat-like creatures that inhabit Pandora in the film. (I predict this will be on your Facebook news feed in a matter of hours since these types of efforts seem to go viral faster than you can Tweet "I told you so.")
• Some of the best tie-ins are saved for U.S. customers. The Pandora ROVR allows diners to explore the world of Pandora and even snap high-resolution images from their adventure to post online. My personal favorite is a packaging campaign that allows diners to rip off a Thrill Card from their Big Mac clamshells, put it in front of a webcam, and access "Avatar"-themed adventures (similar to the latest issue of Esquire).

So what does all this effort get a brand besides blog posts like this? According to Dillon, the brand wants to be where its consumers are. If that means Facebook and online games, this is a heck of a campaign, but it certainly does leave out large segments of the population.

I'm not seeing grandma being very interested in manning the Pandora ROVR and sending photos of her adventure with the Na'vis to her bridge gals. But I do believe the campaign will be wildly successful with the younger generations who are comfortable with advanced technology and have come to expect heavy marketing initiatives like this online. I, for one, have seen a lot of marketing roll outs but none has made me want to go buy the product to try it out more than this one.

With McDonald's relationship with Fox slated to last through 2011, I'm sure we'll be seeing more efforts like the ones promoting "Avatar" in the future. In fact, Cameron was already hinting at a sequel to "Avatar" that might even feature a McDonald's on Pandora. Now that would be augmented reality!