Description

Context
After McDonald’s left Kazakhstan, the I’M brand was created. It maintained quality standards, but after rebranding faced a challenge: like other QSR brands, advertising attribution was incorrect.

Solution
Quick Service Restaurants is one of the most standardized categories in advertising: most brands use red and yellow colors, and their creatives are built around oversized product shots. Our goal was not only to rebuild awareness for the new brand but also to highlight the product range and deliver strong business results.

We reimagined Valentine’s Day by ditching idealized imagery. After all, February 14 isn’t always about happy love stories — sometimes it brings different memories.

The campaign we created was based on three principles:

- Honesty — we tackled a topic brands usually avoid.
- Self-irony.
- A new communication channel — we chose Tinder, where no competitors were present.
As a bonus, we added a product promo: ice cream, the universal cure for heartbreak.

Results
* 1.6M reach in just 3 days.
* OTS 54 450.
* Creative was recognized 17% more often than standard posts.
* ER at 12.7% (x9.5 higher than average).
* On Tinder, we got almost 100 matches, and 41% of them messaged us first.
* Guests +70%, sales +108%, full promo product sell-out.

Media channel:
DOOH: LED screens, media boards, unconventional formats (large-scale placements);
Digital: targeted advertising on Meta and TikTok;
SMM: crowd marketing on Meta (situational commenting on influencer posts), organic promotion on Tinder and Meta;
PR: organic promotion in local media.

Release date:
February 14, 2025

Credits

I’M Restaurants:
Asset Mashanov – Chief Executive Officer
Evgenia Emelianova – Marketing Director
Yelena Kozubskaya – Brand Manager

Agency Team:
Gani Zharkynbayev – Strategic Partner
Karina Ptitsyna — Account manager
Alexander Tyulyaev – Creative Director
Nurym Akimgozhaev – Designer
Nikita Gorshkov – Strategy Manager
Vadim Tarkovsky – Digital Group Head

Partners:
Optimum Media Group – Outdoor Advertising Buying