McDonald’s Europe set out to reimagine its Happy Meal program by creating a digital activation for tech-savvy users of all ages and immerse them in the world of rich and rewarding gamified content. With the entertainment landscape in a constant state of change, and play patterns evolving with new technologies, branding and customer loyalty experiences had to be adapted accordingly.

To answer this challenge of re-imagining the Happy Meal program, the idea of Happy Studio was conceived. Happy Studio became an open-world landscape where users could create their own avatars and discover rich branded content specific to licensed characters on their physical Happy Meals.

Soon after its launch, Happy Studio became a staple in 360 media promotions, activities, missions, augmented reality, and digital books. Users completed missions to collect Star Points as currency to redeem for exclusive digital goods. Happy Studio was unique as it represented a world that housed a great number of licensed characters from so many entertainment properties living in one digital ecosystem.