LSN : News : Friends With Benefits launches a user-owned DAO social platform

McDonald’s Sweden turns digital billboards into food trucks

Food Truck Billboard by McDonald’s Sweden

Sweden – In honour of its new fried chicken burger, McDonald’s Sweden has converted digital billboards into digital food trucks that give away coupons for a free burger.

Joining forces with creative agency Nord DDB, the fast food chain imagined a campaign inspired by the roots of fried chicken sandwiches: street food. McDonald’s chose to glam up regular digital billboards with its branding, a storefront design and wheels to turn it into a mock food truck. The installation invites passers-by to scan a QR code to receive a coupon for a free sandwich to pick up in the nearest McDonald’s restaurant.

‘Our new burger is inspired by the rustic and tasty street food culture, both in terms of how it is prepared and seasoned. Therefore, it felt fun to really go all in and create a food truck as well, but in a modern and digital way,’ said McDonald’s Sweden marketing director Staffan Ekstam.

As attention spans get shorter and shorter, in Advertising Must Speed Up To Survive we analysed how disruptive campaigns that mix the digital and the physical while targeting the right audience are necessary.

Strategic opportunity

Embrace a bolder approach to your advertising campaign by rethinking not only the content but also the props and the platforms used.

Friends With Benefits launches a user-owned DAO social platform

Image by Yunha Lee

Welcome Home by Friends With Benefits

Global – Friends With Benefits (FWB) has introduced Welcome Home, a new kind of social networking app run by ‘friends’, aka token owners – with no ads or algorithms in sight.

FWB, a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) that uses Web3 tools to foster culture and creative agency, unveiled a private social platform to expand its reach beyond events and its Discord presence. It designed Welcome Home as a space that belongs to a community of token holders who can then convene, collaborate and govern as they wish. The app is one of the first social media platforms owned and operated by a DAO. Without algorithms or ads, users are the only ones who can define the app’s future.

‘What happens when a community owns its own social network? What this app doesn’t have is dark patterns, mind-game algorithms and the need to juice your followers,’ explains Mike Bodge, head of product at FWB.

Friends With Benefits did not design its Anti-provocation Platform to onboard as many users as possible. Welcome Home is proudly intimate and human-scaled to promote safer and more fulfilling group dynamics.

Strategic opportunity

Consumers seek online spaces that feel safer and communal. The 'friends and family only' mindset leaves room for new community-driven micro-platforms.

Bigscreen launches the world’s smallest VR headset

US – VR experience business Bigscreen is expanding its offer with Beyond, a new virtual reality headset that it says is the smallest and lightest on the market.

Beyond will retail for £827 ($999, €938) without controllers. To maximise comfort and personalise the experience, Bigscreen asks clients to go through a FaceID scan to receive a customised moulded headset made just for them.

Lighter and more portable VR equipment could ignite new experiences for users outside their bedrooms. In Auto Entertainment, we analysed how the car sector is finding inspiration in virtual platforms and considering immersive and entertaining in-vehicle experiences. Self-driving cars could soon include their own light VR headsets, enabling drivers to consume content on their journey.

Bigscreen, US

Strategic opportunity

Gamers at home increased VR’s popularity, but the next step is, ironically, to take it outside. From the transport industry to hospitality, VR will have a role to play in tomorrow’s customer experience.

Stat: Travellers are committing to holidays with shorter lead times

Hôtel Amour. Photography by Gil Anselmi for Highsnobiety, France

Global – In a new report, B2B platform WeTravel shows travellers are booking their holidays much later than before the pandemic. Purchasing Habits: The Future of Travel Bookings and Payments surveyed professionals of the group travel business, tour operators and WeTravel clients.

The research claims travellers are committing to holidays with shorter lead times. Some 60% of tour operators say their clients now book their holidays less than three months before departure. In 2019, more than 50% of tourists booked their travel 6–12 months in advance. The businesses surveyed say consumers’ fears of cancellations and laborious refund processes are the reasons behind the shift.

WeTravel’s report highlights how the core demographic reaching out to professionals to plan their travel is ageing. In 2019, the average travel tour booker was 30, whereas in 2023 they are closer to 40. The highest growth in travel booking has also come from the 40–55 age group – followed closely by those over 61. In Baby Boomer Travel Market, we identified how adults over 55 who are pursuing knowledge, adventure and personal fulfilment are crucial targets for the travel industry.

Strategic opportunity

Travellers are craving reassurance and processes prioritising convenience and care. Travel industry professionals should target younger audiences with a short-term approach to travelling and nurture relations with tour operators to maintain the loyalty of older demographics.