McDonald's Knocks it Out of the Park with Big Mac Land...

Are you looking to create new venue destinations? Are you looking for unique ways to leverage QSR partners?

In 1998, The St. Louis Cardinals and McDonald's teamed up to create Big Mac Land, a special outfield section at Busch Stadium designed to help McDonald's capitalize on the frenzy surrounding Mark McGwire's chase for the home run record. The special in-venue destination instantly became (and remains) a hit with the team's fan base.

Why? Because every time a Cardinals player hits a home run into the Big Mac Land section, all fans in attendance can redeem their ticket for a free Big Mac sandwich at particpating McDonald's restaurants up to a full week after the game. McDonald's also features "Big Mac Land Bonus Nights", when ticket holders can receive a free Big Mac when a Cardinals player hits a home run anywhere in the stadium. The initiatives have resulted in millions of Big Mac sandwiches being distributed to Cardinals fans over the past ten (10) years.

The 181 seats available in the Big Mac Land are a hot commodity (an example of how the Cardinals organization has been able to create artificial ticket demand). Each ticket for the section comes with a souvenier, free McDonalds coupons, and a chance to be seen on the video board at the new Busch Stadium.

What's interesting to point out is that when the hamburger chain created the Big Mac Land during McGwire's chase of baseball's home run record, the slugger did not approve of the tactic. When the Cardinals moved into the new Busch Stadium, the section changed from #383 to #272.

Enclosed is a video of fans seated in the Big Mac Land waving giant foam French Fries while making an appearance on the video board: