AR unites thousands of fans - concert on McDonald's rooftops

published

Creators of the campaign

DDB Warszawa, McDonald’s, Panowie Pro

Challenge

01

McDonald's has partnered with one of Poland's hottest artists, bambi, to create a limited-edition set and merch signed with her name. The brand faced the challenge of creating an unforgettable concert experience tied to the McDonald's space. This is how the idea of organizing a concert on the roof of the restaurant in Nieporęt, near Warsaw, was born.


McDonald's realized, however, that a limited number of people would be able to attend the concert in Nieporęt. The company was looking for a solution that would allow every bambi fan in Poland to be part of this unique event.

 

Solution

02

We were invited to join this search by the DDB Warsaw agency, a long-time agency partner of McDonald's. During a joint workshop, we developed a solution: broadcasting the event in augmented reality (AR). As a result, fans could watch the bambi concert from a virtual stage suspended above the roof of any McDonald's restaurant across Poland.

 

How exactly did it work? After launching the McDonald's app, accessing the appropriate page and pointing the camera at the brand's logo, users launched a huge virtual screen with a broadcast of the bambi concert. Thanks to geolocation, the system detected the user's location, and specially designed algorithms precisely positioned the virtual screen on the roof, ensuring a stable display regardless of camera movements.

 

We decided to develop a webAR app and integrate it with the existing McDonald's app, which enabled an immersive experience without the need to install additional apps.

Livestream of the concert, but kind of better

03

We wanted to create a unique experience for everyone who would watch the bambi concert on their phones.

 


That's why the concert screen was displayed in full-screen mode, and the animations used reacted to the rhythm and mood of the concert, further enhancing the broadcast. The virtual screen not only broadcast the concert live, but also played the designed animations that accompanied the artist's performance.

 


Thanks to the full-screen mode and geolocation feature, everyone could feel like they were at a real concert, regardless of where they were. The event was only available that day, which further created a sense of exclusivity and engaged users who wanted to see the bambi concert with their own eyes over “their” Mac.

Technology and implementation challenges

04

Creating a webAR application on such a scale required facing numerous technological challenges. We worked on the project for two months, completed dozens of prototypes, and finally developed a stable and intuitive solution that fully exploits the potential of augmented reality.

 


Key challenges included:

detection of the McDonald's roof - it was necessary to create a system that accurately recognizes the McDonald's logo and positions the virtual screen above the roof, not in front of it
stability of the virtual installation - the screen had to stay in one place, regardless of the movements of the phone, so it was crucial to create a stable AR system
live streaming - the challenge was to seamlessly combine live streaming with AR technology so that users could watch the concert without delays
animations and interactions - visual effects on the screen were manually triggered in real time, which required close coordination of animations with the live broadcast

 


After testing popular AR libraries such as 8th Wall, Zapworks and AR.js, we found that none met the project's requirements. Therefore, we developed our own solution using AI to accurately recognize and position the McDonald's restaurant roof, which we combined with 8th Wall's technology to achieve the best results. As a result, we achieved high image quality and stability, and a unique experience on a national scale.

Through the use of AR technology, together with DDB Warsaw, we created a unique experience for the McDonald's brand - we brought the bambi concert to the rooftops of the Golden Arches across Poland! Fans of the rapper could feel part of this unique event, and we once again delivered a super project at the intersection of marketing and technology.

 

If you want to implement a similar groundbreaking campaign and surprise your audience, contact us. Who knows, maybe the next case study will be about our cooperation?