Playing with a Brand: The Brazilian McDonald's Paper Tray Case

This extended abstract examines a promotional board game printed on the paper tray of Brazilian McDonald's restaurants, created by the advertising agency DPZ&T and launched in October 2017. Framed within contemporary debates on communication, marketing, and entertainment, the paper situates the game as an example of how brands use playful interfaces to deliver messages to consumers in an environment shaped by digital networks and mass self-communication. The game follows a "race to the end" mechanic for one to four players and is accessed by scanning a code that activates a Facebook Messenger bot, which delivers quizzes, enigmas, and trivia about McDonald's. Correct answers advance player pawns, and the winner gains a chance to receive a prize such as fries or ice cream.

The analysis proceeds in two parts. The first traces the game design process for a promotional product, covering the conceptual stage, the need to align gameplay with the marketing message, prototyping, beta testing, and the technical integration between the physical tray and the chatbot. The second considers the strategic use of entertainment language in contemporary marketing and argues that social media and mobile devices accelerate the blending of play and commerce, allowing brands such as McDonald's to reach consumers anytime and anywhere.

The author also notes that the digital interface enables data collection, including geolocation and player responses to brand-related questions, which can be used to gauge consumer knowledge of the company and to inform future promotional campaigns. The abstract is presented as a case study of a single campaign and draws on design and game studies literature, though it does not report sample sizes or quantitative results beyond the general description of the data available.