McDonald’s is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Chicken McNuggets with the launch of something called McNuggets Land in the metaverse platform The Sandbox. Joining the land of McNuggets, players are greeted with pixelated McNugget characters such as Coach McNugget and his assistant, Assistant Coach McNugget. Players can earn rewards such as a 100,000 SAND shared prize pool (roughly $44,000) and mystery boxes by playing the game. Hong Kong users have the chance to win coupons as well as the big prize: 365-day free Chicken McNuggets.
The experience is spearheaded by the Hong Kong arm of McDonald’s, and is adorned with the catchphrase Please Share on signs and in cartoonish speech bubbles. Randy Lai, the CEO of McDonald’s Hong Kong, said that McDonald’s has always strived to deliver innovative experiences and Happy Moments. The CEO of the Sandbox, Sebastien Borget, said in a press release that collaborating with a global brand like McDonald’s, with its extensive customer base, takes The Sandbox to a new level and brings us closer to realizing the ultimate goal of mass adoption of the metaverse.
However, brands have been trying activations in various metaverses for years that often toe the line between whimsical and cringe. Recently, convenience store 7-Eleven offered free Slurpee non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as part of their annual 7/11 day, and snack brand Slim Jim launched the Meataverse and invited people to mint free GigaJim NFTs. With much of the venture capital money moving from the metaverse to AI and giants like Disney shuttering their metaverse arms, brands throwing their hats in the Web3 ring now seems ill-timed.
If brands like McDonald’s want to have success in Web3, they have to give people a better why than what McNuggets Land offers. Starbucks’ Odyssey, the coffee company’s Web3 loyalty program, makes more inherent sense by tying in its customers’ existing behaviors with virtual rewards and digital collectibles.