McDonald’s Japan has begun a social media campaign that lets its customers vote for their favourite burger, with the winner becoming part of a free upgrade meal deal.
12 of the fast-food chain’s most popular sandwiches will battle it out to become “the number one burger in Japan.”
The dozen items will be divided into two Blocks. Block A will consist of beef-based burgers, while Block B will be made up of burgers using meat other than beef.
Block A: Big Mac, Double Cheese Burger, Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Bacon Lettuce Burger, Egg-Chee (cheeseburger with egg)
Block B: Teriyaki McBurger, Chicken Fillet-O, Fillet-O-Fish, Ebi Fillet-O (breaded shrimp burger), Barbi-Po (barbecue pork), Chickee-Chee (chicken cheeseburger)
From 6 to 24 January voting will begin to choose a winner in each block. After that, the winners of each block will go head-to-head in a final vote from 25 to 31 January after which the number one burger will be declared.
Votes are accumulated in three ways.
Participants can “Vote by Eating” every time they purchase one of these sandwiches. Their wrapper will have a special QR code that provides a free wallpaper for the user’s smartphone and enter them in a chance to win a 4,000 yen (US$34.45) McDonald’s Card.
The second way is “Vote by Tweeting”, letting Twitter users tweet their favourite with a hashtag. However, given the difference in tweeting about a Big Mac and actually putting your money where your mouth is, one Vote by Eating is worth 100 Votes by Tweeting.
Finally, the sales of each burger will also be factored into the final decision.
As part of the promotion, each burger has a central campaign promise that they will deliver if they’re chosen as the number one. For example, the Big Mac will have extra beef patties if elected the winner.
They all come in the form of upgrades for no extra charge during the first week of their presidency from 1 to 7 February.
In addition to their campaign promises, each burger has their own campaign video outlining why they deserve to be crowned number one in Japan.