McDonald's Tulsa Market Goes Mobile

Tulsa-area McDonald's restaurants are launching an interactive promotion targeting cell phone owners with a mobile scavenger hunt and electronic coupon offer.

The Mobile Whoa promotion, which kicked off yesterday, lets customers "play" with the McDonald's brand via a mobile scavenger hunt that sends consumers to local restaurants to solve trivia questions. To play, consumers text the word "hunt" to 62931 or register at MobileWhoa.com. Once registered, consumers will receive a series of six questions, including trivia specific to McDonald's newly designed restaurants and to Oklahoma.

The first 4,000 consumers who register via text messaging or online and opt-in to receive McDonald's promotions will receive a $5 Arch card from the QSR.

The promotion is designed in part to promote recent design changes at Tulsa restaurants. Many of the 74-area restaurants in northeastern Oklahoma have been remodeled to reflect a "forever young" feeling and be more relevant to customers. Some restaurants feature wireless Internet, cashless technology and plasma-screen TVs.

"This promotion complements the whole goal of making things easier for customers," said Jennifer Smith, McDonald's spokesperson for the west division. "It's a fun way to interact with our customers."

Dallas-based Moroch Partners handles. Gamut Industries, a San Francisco, CA-based mobile marketing company which developed the mobile technology, which delivers mobile coupons in SMS, WAP or J2Me formats.

"We...are always looking at unique media to get our messages out to the consumer," Lisa Rooks, account supervisor, Moroch Partners, said. "We just want to be relevant to the customers and fit their on-the-go lifestyle. This is just the perfect fit."

The QSR is also giving consumers a chance to score free music ring tones and wallpapers for snapping pictures of themselves inside newly designed McDonald's restaurants.

To further lure consumers in its restaurants, McDonald's is offering mobile coupons for a free small order of fries or a hash brown. Starting April 17, customers who register text the words "Open L8" to 73260 will receive the mobile coupon. Recipients can bring their cell phones to participating restaurants and show the mobile coupon to a cashier to redeem the offer. The mobile coupons are valid through May 31.

"Everybody has a cell phone," Smith said. "It's kind of a universal technology."

This isn't the first time a McDonald's market has offered mobile coupons. Last fall, more than 600 McDonald's restaurants in southern California offered mobile coupons for a free McFlurry dessert (Xtra, Oct. 26, 2005).

And other markets are sure to follow. Promotion using cell phones is being considered by "a number" of other McDonald's markets, Smith said. "As a promotion, this is something that will catch on," she said.

The campaign runs through April 30. Radio spots, online materials and outdoor support.

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