National Cheeseburger Day happened last Wednesday. I didn't know this was a thing, but apparently it is.
The big three - McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's - knew, and each crafted a promotion that'll allow them to turn the celebration into downloads.
It worked for some more than others...
We analyzed the downloads generated by each of the three apps on Wednesday (9/18) in the US across the App Store and Google Play, and compared them to the app's daily average over the last month. The results were more interesting than I expected.
When it comes to growth, it's Wendy's that came up on top with downloads growing more than both rivals combined!
Our App Intelligence shows McDonald's came in last with 317% growth, Burger King second with 375%, and Wendy's at the top with a whopping 745% increase over the previous 30-day average.
Wendy's offered a Jr. bacon cheeseburger (the little one) for just a penny as long as you buy other stuff, and is running this campaign for an entire week in the hope of getting even more downloads. But so far it looks like the spike in downloads has subsided.
In fact, in the US App Store, Wendy's is ranked 35th overall currently. Higher than its average, but muuuch lower than rival McDonalds, the app with the most new downloads on Wednesday and also the #1 app on Google Play and #5 in the App Store in the US right now.
When we compare absolute downloads, and not growth, our best and worst performers swap.
According to our estimates, McDonald's saw 227K downloads on Wednesday, the most of the three, while Wendy's saw just 87.5K. Wendy's sees much lower daily downloads normally which is why the growth was so much higher.
Burger King saw 139K downloads, according to our estimates, and given it's the middle result in both of our ranks, it's fair to say it really needs a better strategy because this one just isn't working...
Being on-device, in the food & beverage category, gives McDonald's and Wendy's the ability to initiate demand in a way regular ads simply can't, which is why so many of them craft clever campaigns that trade food for downloads.
National Fried Chicken Day takes place in early November. Let's see how these figures will change and if the king can come up with a better strategy.
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