Scan the cup to play, discover and celebrate the region in augmented reality.

The Brief

McDonald’s Dubai planned a four-week launch of limited-edition aluminium cups, each design celebrating the culture and beauty of the region. Our brief was to turn this collectible cup series into an interactive AR campaign that brings national pride to life “one cup, one story, one scan at a time” — driving engagement in-restaurant and at home, encouraging customers to collect all four cups, and creating playful, shareable moments that feel distinctly McDonald’s.

The Opportunity

The aluminium cups offered a rare opportunity: a highly visible, highly held object that every participating customer would physically touch, examine and often keep. By using them as AR markers, we could transform a static collectable into a living, replayable experience that follows the guest from counter to table to home.

This opened the door to framing McDonald’s as a playful storyteller, not just a meal stop. Games could turn favourites like fries and nuggets into interactive pieces, cylindrical AR could unwrap hidden stories around the cup, and music-driven animations could celebrate the sound and rhythm of the region. Done right, each cup becomes its own mini stage, one scan away from a surprise. And the full set becomes something you don’t just collect, but keep coming back to explore.

Concepts

Taste of Victory

Flick your favourites. Fill your cup.

In Taste of Victory, guests turn their aluminium cup into a fast, addictive AR challenge. By scanning the cup, players use their phones to flick McDonald’s favourites; fries, nuggets, ice cream scoops, ice cubes into the real cup sitting in front of them. The faster and more accurate their flicks, the more their virtual drink or dessert fills up, and the higher their score climbs. It’s simple, instantly understandable, and feels like a natural extension of the McDonald’s tray moment.

Interactive Play: Turns the real McDonald’s cup into a fun, fast-paced AR target game.

Brand Connection: Celebrates national pride with McDonald’s favourites through food and design.

Reward & Replay: Keeps players coming back with shareable scores and fun animations.

The Golden Journey

Discover the magic. Spin the cup. Bring the story to life.

The Golden Journey turns each limited-edition cup into a 360° AR story world. Using cylindrical tracking, guests scan the cup and rotate it slowly in their hand. As they spin, illustrated elements spring to life as animated hotspots. Tapping or pausing on these reveals short, delightful vignettes inspired by local architecture, landscapes, traditions and everyday moments. Always with a playful McDonald’s twist.

Cultural Discovery: Each cup reveals unique regional themes and details through interactive AR storytelling.

Storytelling: Cylindrical tracking and animated hotspots turn every rotation into a new moment of surprise.

Collectible Connection: Encourages fans to collect all four cups to complete the full journey.

Sound Bites

Turn up the flavour. Turn up the fun.

In Sound Bites, the cup becomes a tiny AR stage for a menu-themed band performance. When scanned, characters based on McDonald’s favourites appear around the cup, nuggets on drums, a McChicken on guitar, a sundae on vocals playing to a track that blends regional rhythms with the brand’s upbeat energy. Visual effects, confetti and light pulses respond to the music, turning the tabletop into a shareable mini-concert.

Interactive Performance: Brings McDonald’s favourites to life as animated musicians in an AR celebration.

Cultural Soundscape: Combines regional music influences with McDonald’s upbeat, playful tone.

Shareable Spectacle: A photogenic, sound-reactive AR moment designed for social sharing and repeat play.

Response to the Brief

Together, Taste of Victory, The Golden Journey and Sound Bites turn the limited-edition aluminium cups into exactly what McDonald’s asked for — living, interactive collectibles that celebrate national pride and drive engagement well beyond the counter. Each concept uses the cup as the single, consistent trigger, but offers a different flavour of experience. From a quick skill-based game, a 360° story world and a music-led AR performance, all built to be picked up in seconds by guests of any age.

The suite balances play, culture and shareability. Guests get fun, replayable moments that keep them scanning their cup again and again. McDonald’s gets richer storytelling around regional identity, clear hooks for social content, and a flexible platform that can scale or rotate concepts over the full four-week campaign. In combination, the ideas position the cup as a keepsake you don’t just keep on a shelf, but actively return to, show off and talk about.

Disclaimer: Example cup artwork from a New Zealand campaign, shown for illustration only and not representative of final Dubai packaging or image markers.