McDonald’s has a new espresso-based drink called Caramel Mocha and plans to introduce it by holding a Twitter-based scavenger hunt in nine cities beginning November 16. The first person to find a hidden giant McCafe coffee cup in each city wins a year’s worth of free McCafe beverages. The next 100 people in each city get a card for a free McCafe drink.
McDonald’s will send out clues on where the cups are hidden via social media channels like @McDonalds and @McCafeyourday on Twitter. It also will use the Twitter and Facebook accounts of franchisees in the nine local markets where the contest is being held: Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Haven, Conn., Salt Lake City, Tampa Bay, Fla., and Washington.
Advertising Age has the full details and reports that this isn’t the first time for the scavenger-hunt idea for McDonalds, but this is the first time it’s been put under the aegis of the national marketing team. McDonald’s will be working with its local public relations agencies to manage the local Twitter handles as well as pitch local media outlets to generate buzz. But it will not be using promoted tweets or paid Facebook deals.
