The archive · PR & Stunts · Marketing decision · 2024
McDonald's Korea turns city benches into 'Mom's Beds' — ADFEST 2024 Outdoor Grande
Korea's law keeps parents on 160×60cm hospital beds; McDonald's turned Seoul's benches into 'Mom's Beds' to fund the capital's first Ronald McDonald House.
McDonald's Korea · Ronald McDonald House Charities
What it had to solve
In South Korea, a legal guardian must stay in the hospital room with a sick child, and the country's only Ronald McDonald House is in Yangsan, 388km from Seoul's major children's hospitals. Thousands of parents live for months or years on 160×60cm caregiver beds; McDonald's, a long-standing RMHC partner, wanted to make that invisible hardship visible and fund Seoul's first house.
How it works
In South Korea, when a child is hospitalized, a legal guardian must stay in the room for the whole stay. The country's only Ronald McDonald House is in Yangsan, 388km from the children's hospitals most families need, so thousands of parents live for months — sometimes years — on 160×60cm caregiver beds that fold out beside the child's bed.
McDonald's Korea, a long-standing partner of Ronald McDonald House Charities, wanted to fund the capital's first RMHC House next to Seoul's largest children's hospital. Leo Burnett Korea made the hardship visible by turning Seoul's common benches into 'Mom's Beds': bed-size lines painted around them showed how a bench matched a caregiver bed, and QR codes led to real mothers' stories and donation pages.
The Mom's Beds appeared in parks like Mapo Saebit Park, at Cheonggyecheon (which draws over 300,000 daily visitors), in McDonald's restaurants, and as a large installation at Starfield Goyang, where 21 beds carried the real names and stories of eight families on a 16-metre media tower and 78-metre panorama screens. SBS HopeTV joined with an eight-hour live fundraising broadcast that revealed caregivers' lives and brought doctors' endorsements.
The campaign raised over US$300,000 in donations, enrolled 1,827 regular donors through the broadcast alone, reached an estimated 377 million people and was covered by more than 50 media outlets. It led Seoul City to approve a site for the first Ronald McDonald House in Seoul, in partnership with Seoul National University Hospital, and won the ADFEST 2024 Outdoor Lotus Grande.
Why it lands
- Comparing a bench to a real caregiver bed lets every passer-by physically experience the cramped dimensions instead of just reading about them.
- Putting the marker on a public bench made the campaign free media: the city's everyday furniture became the ad.
- QR codes connected the object to real mothers' stories and a direct donation path, so empathy converted into money on the spot.
- Partnering with SBS HopeTV scaled the cause into a nationwide fundraising broadcast instead of a local activation.
What it did
The campaign raised more than US$300,000 in donations, enrolled 1,827 regular donors through the SBS broadcast, reached an estimated 377 million people, and drew coverage from more than 50 media outlets. Seoul City approved a site for the capital's first Ronald McDonald House, in partnership with Seoul National University Hospital, and the work won the ADFEST 2024 Outdoor Lotus Grande.
What you can take
When a hardship is invisible, let people feel its size: a bench painted to the dimensions of a caregiver bed makes months of silent suffering physically legible — and turns empathy into donations.
Since then
Seoul City approved the site for the capital's first Ronald McDonald House with Seoul National University Hospital, and RMHC Korea gained 1,827 committed monthly donors plus an institutional partner. The campaign won the ADFEST 2024 Outdoor Lotus Grande, and McDonald's role as a socially responsible neighbour became part of its brand story in Korea.
Sources
- ADFEST 2024 Winners: Mom's Bed
- ADFEST Lotus Awards: Winners, the Second Wave
- 'Mom's Bed' breaks the silence on caregiver struggles in Seoul
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