Description

Context & Challenge
When McDonald’s left Kazakhstan, a market and cultural void opened. A new brand—I’M—stepped in, but early consumer perception framed it as a temporary, “soulless copy.” This gap was especially visible among Kazakh-speaking audiences, who did not feel the brand reflected their cultural code or created an emotional connection. The task: prove I’M is an independent brand that reflects local identity while meeting international Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) standards.

Insight
Pride and trust in Kazakhstan are earned when things are “made our way”—respecting culture and traditions while speaking a modern language. If a QSR brand could express a local cultural code credibly, it would move from “replacement” to “real.”

Strategy
Give I’M its own cultural code through a flagship product that fuses a global format with a national taste—launched at the most meaningful moment of renewal: Nauryz.

Idea
Introduce Qazan Burger and Chicken Qazan—hearty, juicy patties with a distinctive spicy sauce—co-created from direct guest feedback. Wrap the launch in a modern Kazakh narrative and a unifying line: “I’M — that’s how we roll!”

Execution (360 Experience & Activation)
• Product as culture: Qazan = a symbol of home, warmth, and sharing; modernized into a contemporary burger experience.
• Talent partnership: Collaborated with Raim, a voice of the new generation translating Kazakh culture into pop context; he became the campaign face and worked two days behind the counter in Almaty and Astana, serving not just orders, but emotions. Choosing RaiM was strategic: he is one of the most popular local celebrities, whose music and persona resonate with Kazakh-speaking audiences. His involvement helped solve a key challenge of the campaign - attracting a new, previously less engaged audience and embedding the brand organically into the local cultural code.
• Cultural truths in communications: We celebrated local habits—drinking tea on hot days, New Year in spring, speaking three languages at once—turning them into a modern brand language.
• Nationwide 360: TV, OOH, digital, social, in-restaurant activations; content built for trilingual audiences; robust UGC engagement and PR.

Results
• Reach & media: 1M+ views; OOH coverage: 70%; Digital reach: 49%; TV reach: 50.5%; Total unique reach: 68%.
• Commercial impact: Top-3 bestseller outside combos; every 16th burger sold was a Qazan Burger or Chicken Qazan; restaurant traffic +22%.
• Brand shift: 80% of users agreed the campaign truly reflects the brand’s character. I’M secured a cultural idea: QSR food can be local.
• Enduring asset: Qazan Burger is now more than a product—it’s an identity code where tradition meets modernity. Raim became not just a face, but a symbol of I’M.


Why it deserves to win
I’M transformed skepticism into pride by encoding local culture into product, talent, and storytelling—delivering both market results and a perception shift. That’s not a replacement. That’s a brand.
I’M — that’s how we roll!

Credits

I’M team:

Managing Director Asset Mashanov
Marketing Director Evgenia Emelianova
Brand Manager Kozubskaya Yelena
Brand Manager Dmitriy Avteikin
CBI Analyst Liliya Duisebayeva

Creative team:

TBWA\CAC
Inna Plavskaya - Creative Director
Dana Raushanova - Client Service Director
Nsanbayeva Gulaiim - Account Director

Ad production:
Qara Studios

Media team:

Optimum Media Group
Client Service Director Valeriya Reshetnyak
Head of Media Group Nastya Politova
Senior Media Manager Daniil Pecherskih
Head of digital media department Sandugash Shaimerdenova
Digital Group Head Timur Zhalilov
Director of TV and Radio department Svetlana Zhemchuzhnikova
TV Group Head Karina Popovich
Director of OOH department Elena Baraxanova
OOH media manager Tatyana Bayeva