Happy Meals Hold
Valuable Tips
A group of government health and safety organizations was eager to mimic the Postal Service's success, so Imagitas brokered a partnership for them with McDonalds - a retail giant that touches more American families more often than any public agency in the country. Armed with statistics indicating that 89 percent of American families with children eat at McDonalds at least once a week, Imagitas understood and appreciated the practical impact that this strategic partnership might deliver.
Since every McDonalds Happy Meal customer is a potential consumer for the multiple layers of commercial and public service information, Happy Meal bags soon appeared with colorful, easy-to-read booklets attached. Each booklet was filled with information designed for parents of small children, like tips on teaching children to read and use a computer, and advice for setting up a safe home.
Follow-up surveys conducted by independent research firms validated the new business model, and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration next provided seat-belt information in a companion booklet to the Happy Meal bag. This action generated an 11 percent increase in the use of safety belts and a seven percent increase in the number of parents who said they intended to use child safety or "booster" seats when traveling with small children.
Additional surveys
registered a similar impact, noting increased awareness about food safety,
health hazards for small children, educational issues, and government
benefits for families and children.
Tray-Liners Hold Keys to Government Services
It came as no surprise, then, that when NPR decided to look for new ways to market information taken from the government's classified ads, the "Blue Pages," they turned to Imagitas.
Based on simple reasoning -- "don't mess with success" -- the original plan was to attach the list of most frequently used Federal agency telephone numbers and Internet sites to the McDonalds Happy Meal bag. But, the marketing experts had a new and better idea.
