The One with the McDonald’s x Friends Festival

Date: 5th February

Client: DCM

How SPARK delivered a cinema booking microsite build for the McDonald’s x Friends Festival, managing ticketing and customer enquiries.

We Are Spark>The One with the McDonald’s x Friends Festival

THE CLIENT

Digital Cinema Media (DCM) partnered with SPARK to deliver a seamless booking experience for the McDonald’s x Friends Festival; an experiential cinema campaign celebrating one of TV’s most iconic shows. The collaboration saw McDonald’s team up with Friends to create a free, nationwide cinema takeover for fans across the UK.

THE CHALLENGE

With high demand expected, DCM needed a reliable, user-friendly cinema booking microsite that could support a multi-venue, multi-city rollout.

The campaign launched with a headline takeover of Leicester Square, bringing Friends episodes to ODEON, Cineworld and Vue cinemas over one packed weekend in February, before touring Cineworld locations nationwide.

The solution needed to:

  • Offer early ticket access to My McDonald’s Rewards customers, followed by general release
  • Cap bookings at up to four tickets per customer
  • Handle all ticket allocation smoothly and fairly
  • Manage customer enquiries efficiently during a high-profile, time-sensitive campaign

 

All while capturing the excitement and personality of the Friends brand.

WHAT WE DID

SPARK designed and built a bespoke cinema booking microsite for the McDonald’s x Friends Festival, acting as the central hub for the entire campaign.

We managed end-to-end ticketing across all venues, from early-access Rewards bookings through to open access for all customers, ensuring a smooth and stress-free experience for fans. Alongside ticket allocation, SPARK handled all customer enquiries, providing support throughout the campaign lifecycle.

The microsite brought the campaign to life with playful, on-brand copy and clear event information, celebrating a full-on Friends weekend in Leicester Square – complete with screenings of 12 iconic episodes, interactive moments, and photo opportunities – before taking the experience nationwide.

RESULTS

The result was a robust, scalable platform that supported a hugely popular cultural collaboration and helped McDonald’s and DCM deliver an unforgettable cinema experience for Friends fans across the UK.