Why McDonald’s Taiwan Released a Lullaby to Encourage Breakfast Goers

Flipping breakfast marketing on its head by targeting bedtime, McDonald’s Taiwan’s ‘Goodnight, See You for Breakfast’used a Taiwanese tune synonymous with bedtime to gently encourage early nights so that people can wake up on time for a McDonald’s breakfast.

With surreal scenes of swimming fish fillets and bountiful hash brown fields, the work is set to a sleep-friendly tempo to invoke both calmness and craving. Messaging reached audiences at night through social performances, targeted digital ads and even live surprise sets in nightlife venues, while a social singing challenge turned the ritual into shared online moments.

To find out more, LBB’s Sunna Coleman spoke with Ogilvy Taiwan chief creative officer, Giant Kung, and McDonald’s Taiwan integrated marketing group director, Tiffany Chang.

LBB> What was the moment or insight that sparked the idea of reimagining a bedtime ritual as a breakfast reminder?

Giant> McDonald’s Taiwan serves breakfast from 5am to 10:30am, and the truth is, many people simply cannot wake up in time. Some have even taken to social media to ask McDonald’s to extend breakfast hours. We also wanted to address revenge bedtime procrastination: people staying up late scrolling on their phones, watching Netflix, or catching up on messages even after they have already gotten into bed. When people sleep late, they wake up late, and breakfast becomes easy to miss.

So instead of talking about how great mornings are, we decided to tackle breakfast communication from the unexpected angle of the night before, planting an irresistible sense of deliciousness through a bedtime experience, so that craving is formed before sleep and carried into the morning, regardless of tomorrow’s schedule.

LBB> How did you balance nostalgia (given the song’s deep cultural legacy) with freshness to appeal to younger audiences or new consumers?

Giant> Our most important creative choice was selecting the right cultural anchor. For this campaign, our secret weapon was Taiwan’s universally recognised ‘Goodnight Song’ by Fei Yu-ching. Though he has long since retired, the song remains a powerful, cross-generational cultural cue. More than nostalgia, its melody instinctively signals sleep the moment it is heard.

Building on this foundation, we reimagined the classic by pairing the familiar melody with McDonald’s breakfast ingredients, creating a dreamlike universe that feels both fresh and unexpected. Through modern executions such as popular singers leading nightly performances, an online karaoke challenge, and surprise live moments, we brought the song into contemporary formats that reflect how younger audiences engage with media today. The result is a reinterpretation that feels both familiar and new, resonating naturally across generations.

LBB> On the technical side, how did you handle the audio production to create a version of the song that worked for both ‘sleep/listen’ contexts and marketing activation contexts (ads, social media, live)?

Giant> Grounded in science, we began with research showing that music paced at 60 to 80 BPM helps the brain enter a calmer state and ease into sleep. Using this as the foundation, the team re-arranged the song and created a dreamlike 3D music video. Fantastical McDonald’s breakfast worlds take shape as McMuffin nebulae, hash brown fields, pancake hills, and coffee swirls unfold in slow motion with looping, hypnotic movements.

The result is a dream that sparks both relaxation and appetite. It acts as a sensory cue, gently planting the craving for McDonald’s breakfast into the viewer’s subconscious before they fall asleep.

The full-length sleep version features a slower pace and longer duration to help guide relaxation, while other formats were tailored for different media environments. Shorter cuts, television spots, and audio-only versions were created to reach consumers across various touchpoints.

LBB> How did you incorporate advice from sleep experts and psychologists?

Giant> Throughout the production process, we worked closely with sleep experts who participated in each stage of development. They shared practical tips for improving sleep, which we thoughtfully integrated into the campaign. During the nightly 9pm livestreams, before well-known singers and choirs led the ‘Goodnight Song’, these experts introduced simple pre-bed relaxation techniques, such as eye massage, drinking chamomile tea, or wearing an eye mask to block out light.

In doing so, we sought to bring scientific thinking into an emotionally driven marketing world, allowing rational insights to quietly strengthen an intimate bedtime experience.

LBB> How did you visualise the dreamlike world made of breakfast ingredients? What inspired that aesthetic?

Giant> ‘Goodnight, See You for Breakfast’ is already a very clear and pure idea, but there is still significant room for creative expression in the visual execution. Since ‘dream’ is an abstract concept, we explored many possible directions. In conversations about dreams or aspirations, images like traveling around the world or going into outer space often come to mind. This led us to focus on ‘journey’ as the key angle.

Together with the VFX team, we discussed various ways to portray natural wonders and a sense of exploration through food-based landscapes, using them as the foundation for a visually compelling execution.

LBB> What were the biggest creative and strategic challenges on this project and how did you navigate them?

Giant> The biggest challenge was standing out in Taiwan’s extremely competitive breakfast market, where breakfast shops and convenience stores make grabbing food fast and effortless. Even though McDonald’s breakfast is well loved for its deliciousness, time-poor consumers often default to the easiest option in the morning.

Strategically, we needed to remove that morning pressure. Creatively, we also had to move beyond McDonald’s familiar food-led advertising. We navigated both challenges by shifting the battlefield to the night before, using a surreal, dreamlike world to reimagine breakfast deliciousness. By guiding people through engaging, entertaining night-time content, we quietly planted cravings before sleep, reducing friction and driving breakfast visits the next day.

LBB> The campaign spans digital, OOH (transport, malls), nightlife venues – how did you decide where and when to reach the audience for maximum effect?

Giant> We started by identifying the moments when consumers most need a reminder to sleep earlier. Together with McDonald’s team, we mapped out different consumer groups and the various ways people spend their nights.

When they are scrolling on their phones before bed, we meet them on social platforms with a nightly 9pm ‘Goodnight Song’ livestream.

When they are on their way home, we reach them across metro stations, bus stops, and in-taxi media.

When they are out enjoying nightlife, we appear in KTVs, bars, and busy nightlife districts through surprise ‘Goodnight Song’ pop-up performances.

When they are out for daily necessities, we accompany their final errands through audio messages in convenience stores and supermarkets.

By meeting people wherever their nights take them, we are able to consistently plant the same bedtime cue, turning night-time moments into a shared reminder to sleep early and wake up craving McDonald’s breakfast.

LBB> What do you hope this campaign achieves beyond just breakfast sales?

Tiffany> For McDonald’s, this campaign was never about driving short-term sales. Our goal was to deepen breakfast brand affinity by becoming more relevant and meaningful in people’s everyday lives, which meant going beyond selling meals to open up a cultural conversation. McDonald’s believes brand love is not built overnight. It grows through consistent cultural interaction, one moment at a time.

The success of ‘Goodnight, See You for Breakfast’ lies in the fact that it was more than an advertisement. It became a social observation. It explored how modern people relate to sleep, redefined what breakfast can mean, and positioned McDonald’s not just as a fast-food provider, but as a caring, culturally aware brand that reminds people to look after themselves.

LBB> What results have you seen so far?

Giant> In this campaign, we explored a new way of expressing breakfast deliciousness. While McDonald’s has traditionally showcased deliciousness through real-life breakfast moments, this time we placed the same authentic appetite appeal into a surreal, dreamlike world.

There are two key dimensions to evaluating the results: branding perception and business performance.

Branding perception, based on the ad post tracking report, delivered highly encouraging results:

McDonald’s was perceived as significantly more novel, with the key target audience showing a 2x increase versus historical benchmarks.

Appetite appeal was strengthened, with nearly 80% of viewers saying McDonald’s breakfast looked delicious after watching.

Breakfast consideration increased, with 27% more people saying McDonald’s would come to mind when craving breakfast, compared to previous communications.

Business performance reflected the same positive momentum:

Trial rate delivered a breakthrough result, reaching 139% of the historical average compared to the past decade.

Guest count grew with demand shifting earlier, as the hourly GC% before 8:30am increased versus previous periods, indicating stronger early-morning traffic.

LBB> Any other interesting campaign insight we should know?

Tiffany> We hope that ‘Goodnight, See You for Breakfast’ can become a long-term platform for McDonald’s breakfast. The idea of encouraging people to sleep earlier and enjoy breakfast opens up plenty of creative possibilities. Under this fresh early-to-bed, better-for-breakfast strategy, the ambition is to gradually influence behaviour and ultimately contribute to business growth. It is a meaningful direction with strong long-term potential.