After twenty-nine years of wildly popular children's toys, McDonald's is bringing its Happy Meals to the computer screen. In an exciting new digital initiative, McDonald's Europe is partnering with Canadian entertainment studio Fuel Industries to reinvent the contents of the box that, for three decades, has had children and their parents visiting McDonald's restaurants across the world.
This spring, children will be introduced to four mischievous Fairies and four powerful Dragons by way of interactive CD-ROMs that will bring the characters to life on their computers. In an original twist on what has become a staple of children's advertising, these Happy Meal toys do not feature tie-ins to a major children's film, game, toy line or television program. Rather, they are original licensed creations developed by Fuel Industries, a branded entertainment studio headquartered in Ottawa, Canada.
Typically, McDonald's has partnered with major studios to bring already-established characters to their Happy Meals. The fairies and dragons may be new to children, but McDonald's is confident that the personality of the characters themselves will be attractive to millions of children in Europe.
"Working in partnership with McDonald's Europe has been a great experience, and it is giving us a unique opportunity to have our creations experienced my millions of kids worldwide," said Warren Tomlin, Chief Creative Officer at Fuel Industries. "By licensing characters and content from our 100-person shop in Ottawa, McDonald's Europe is making a fantastic statement: when a company is determined to create top-quality content, people will stand up and take notice."
In keeping with the campaign's international focus, the interactive characters communicate without language, and will be released in forty countries spanning eleven languages. Once the disc, which is included in a bright plastic case within the Happy Meal, is inserted, and the fairy or dragon comes to life on their desktop, children follow audio and visual clues in order to unlock the full gamut of games they can play with the character.
McDonald's will be shipping millions of CD-ROMs throughout April and May, beginning a new era for its signature toy treat. By working directly with an entertainment studio in a joint venture to produce original content, McDonald's has made a unique change to three decades of tradition, and is banking that the original characters and content are more than enough to keep a generation born on the web entertained.
