Case Study: McDonald's Hong Kong boosts app downloads and cuts acquisition costs with Instagram Reels and Advantage+ placement

McDonald's Hong Kong - Customer Case Study

McDonald’s Hong Kong set out to increase downloads of its app and attract a younger audience, testing whether Instagram Reels could drive more installs and improve cost efficiency compared with its business-as-usual placements.

In an A/B test the brand compared manual placements versus a strategy that added standalone Reels ads and Advantage+ placement (which included Reels), targeting Hong Kong residents aged 18–35 who were not existing app users. The Reels-focused approach used short creative cuts and delivered better results: 15% lower cost per reach, 3.5% lower cost per app install with standalone Reels plus Advantage+, and 12% lower cost per app install using Advantage+ placement alone versus the business-as-usual campaign.

McDonald's Hong Kong

Kai Tsang

Senior Director Of Digital Customer Experience & Partnership