Social listening has revealed the joy customers experience from sneaking their menu favourites into unexpected places, such as aeroplanes. Leaning into this fan truth, McDonald’s Hong Kong created a social campaign, under the banner of #SNEAKJOY, to inspire user-generated content in exchange for menu giveaways.

The campaign kicked off with a special promotion at Hong Kong International Airport, inviting travellers to experience the joy of “sneaking” a McDonald’s apple pie onto their flight. The first 1,000 people bringing their boarding pass to the airport McDonald’s received a free apple pie to enjoy on their journey. Customers that creatively captured their experience, shared it on social media via the campaign hashtag #SNEAKJOY, and tagged the McDonald’s Hong Kong Instagram account also received free Chicken McNuggets on their return to Hong Kong.

Andreas Krasser, CEO at DDB Group Hong Kong, said: “This campaign is special because it taps into and amplifies an existing behaviour. We hope it will bring a lot of joy, as well as entertainment, to even more people along the way.”