McDonald?s is further cementing its place in the mobile advertising industry with a campaign that not only educates consumers about the current Monopoly promotion but also lets them enter on the spot.  

McDonald?s is using mobile video and landing pages in the campaign as an interactive touch point for consumers. The McDonald?s ads are running in the TV.com iPhone application.

?I think mobile advertising works for quick service restaurants as such purchases can often be spur-of-the-moment and attractive offers and promotions such as McDonald?s Monopoly can drive restaurant footfall,? said Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism, New York.

?I think this is a strong campaign,? he said. ?The campaign visuals are very strong and simple with the golden arches and the Monopoly logo and '1 in 4 wins' is a clear message, too. I like the ability to enter a code and see if you've won a prize right from the expanded page. Overall, this campaign is a winner.?

Mr. Buckingham is not affiliated with McDonald?s. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

McDonald?s did not respond to press inquiries.

Mobile winners
The McDonald?s mobile banner features a video that runs in the left-hand corner of the ad. The copy promotes the company?s current Monopoly campaign. This year marks the 20th time that McDonald?s has run the Monopoly campaign.

When users tap on the ad, it expands and prompts a video to begin. The video is 30 seconds long and shows consumers how they can play by entering the codes found on products for a chance at winning.

At the bottom of the page, a button encourages users to play now.

Consumers who click on the button are redirected to an in-app landing page that pulls in the campaign?s mobile site for the campaign - http://www.playatmcd.com. From there, consumers can learn more about the campaign, including the prizes and where they can find the product codes.

A large bar across the top of the screen lets consumers quickly enter the codes to win to see if they are an instant winner. Optimizing the campaign?s entry page for mobile is particularly important in this case when consumers most likely have their mobile devices with them inside the restaurants.

The McDonald's mobile site

Advertisement drivers
McDonald?s has a long history of using mobile advertising, particularly to drive in-store traffic.

Most recently, the company ran a mobile campaign on the MLB?s mobile site to give users a chance to win either Yankee or Mets tickets. The campaign also used a mobile device?s built-in GPS to find the nearest locations (see story).

Additionally, the brand used mobile advertising to promote a line of summer products (see story).

By incorporating video into the mix, McDonald?s is able to leverage and repackage other media from the campaign into its mobile initiatives.

McDonald?s is also smart to include a clip that is short and to the point with a 30-second video.

?It makes sense to repurpose a video from other media for the mobile campaign as these are expensive to produce,? Mr. Buckingham said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York