“Different interpretations of the old and modern” — McDonald’s celebrates Lunar New Year with AI technology
To welcome the Year of the Rabbit, Golden Arches has partnered with award-winning viral digital content creator Karen X Cheng to launch an interactive Lunar New Year campaign that connects deeply with the brand’s fans across culture, technology and even virtual universes.
The collaboration included Cheng’s creative designs, experiential AR filters, immersive metaverse experiences and even the launch of a future commercial using AI technology, Cheng says she is excited to bring her heritage and expertise to life in a new way with this season’s McDonald’s campaign.
And this link:www.McDLunarNewYear.com will show you the magic.
First and foremost, as a member of an Asian group, I followed the McDonald’s brand on the Internet to learn more about the notion of Asian Lunar New Year, which is an interesting thing in and of itself. And I feel that Asians all across the world will connect with this year’s most significant event.
And the smart combination of the classic and the contemporary is the campaign’s standout feature. The use of AR and AI technologies in marketing campaigns has been prevalent in recent years, however a single stack of technologies does not demonstrate the heart of the marketing strategy. This marketing campaign employs the subject of old and new, leverages the cultural history and cultural background of Asian people for the New Year to produce, and, on top of that, makes fair use of technology to accomplish the desired impact.
Augmented reality (AR) filter
The filter was chosen to debut on Instagram, the world’s largest photo social media platform, so that users may experience the magical transition from the Year of the Tiger (2022) to the Year of the Rabbit (2023) with the use of AR technology.
Metauniverse experience
McDonald’s and Karen created an interactive metaverse theme for individuals all around the world who wish to reconnect with their families and spend the Lunar New Year together, mixing traditional Asian New Year components with contemporary technology in a virtual realm. 3D sculptures of the traditional Chinese zodiac adorned the room.
AI-powered television commercial
In the commercial, Karen creates her own Chinese zodiac piece from childhood memories of Lunar New Year with her parents, and then shifts to the present as she continues to utilizes the NeRF (neural radiance fields) technology of artificial intelligence to create a 3D scene to interpret her work. At the end, she gives a QR code to encourage users to join in the creation.
Lastly, This is especially motivating for those of us in the marketing field who believe that the essence or core of any marketing is to resonate. A excellent example is telling a nice narrative or demonstrating a value.
