Doubling McDonald’s customer database with 55 million Monopoly cards scanned
The McDonald’s Monopoly Game App climbed to #1 on the app store within 24 hours. During the campaign, 3.4 million active users scanned 55 million tickets and redeemed over 4 million prizes. The promotion doubled McDonald’s Australia’s database size, with players stayed engaged with an average dwell time of 7 minutes per visit.
Monopoly is McDonald's flagship promotion, players unlock rewards by scanning tokens or playing games to win prizes.
I joined VML on a short-term contract as a product designer. My challenge was to keep people playing while driving prize redemption. So the mobile app had to be intuitive, easy-to-use, and fun to play.
I started with paper sketches to get the gameplay and prize mechanics right, making sure all gameplay was compliant with Australia’s strict online gaming rules. To keep the app fun I focused on the transitions between each stage of the user experience. From here I ironed out usability issues and moved to high fidelity wireframes.
Having previously led delivery teams at Westpac Bank, I knew the importance of effective stakeholder coordination. I mapped every detail into user journeys, including animations, interactions, server calls, and game logic. These maps were a clear blueprint for the client, designers, developers, and animation studio. This collaboration was foundational to the project's success.
