MANILA, Philippines - “We want our customers to experience the goodness of a McDonald’s breakfast, so today, we’re giving away free McMuffin sandwiches to our first 1,000 customers per participating store,” Kenneth Yang, McDonald’s Philippines president and chief executive officer, said as he welcomed the first customer yesterday morning at McDonald’s Quezon Avenue.
This year marks the third time that McDonald’s is celebrating National Breakfast Day in the Philippines, where close to 400 McDonald’s stores nationwide gave out free McMuffin sandwiches, totaling to around 400,000. National Breakfast Day is “the region’s biggest breakfast activation” as the event was also held in countries in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
Aside from Yang, several celebrities also had a hand in giving out free McMuffins: Solenn Heussaff, Lovi Poe, Rocco Nacino, Alden Richards, Drew Arellano, Matteo Guidicelli, Enrique Gil, Alex Gonzaga, Xian Lim and Bianca Gonzales each visited a different McDonald’s store around the Metro. The Kikay Barkada of Monster Radio RX 93.1 also joined the celebration by once again broadcasting their radio show, The Morning Rush live at McDonald’s El Pueblo. Of course, McDonald’s chief happiness officer Ronald McDonald was also present.
Since they started the campaign in 2013, Yang says it has become a highly anticipated event, with netizens happily sharing their experiences on social media, even making it a trending topic on Twitter for the third year in a row. “I think they were pleasantly surprised when we had the first National Breakfast Day, but now they’re looking forward to it. They don’t even have to go far because of the many McDonald’s locations that we have – it can be near their home, a branch that they pass by on the way to work or school, they can easily drop by (to claim their free McMuffin).”
Yang, who describes himself as a “morning person,” considers breakfast as his favorite meal of the day. “I really look forward to it and I enjoy having a cup of our McCafe – either our premium roast or an Americano, then our Sausage McMuffin with Egg and Hotcakes. For me, it gives me the energy to work for the rest of the day.”
As the campaign is meant to promote the importance of having breakfast to jumpstart one’s day on a positive note, this year marked the first time that McDonald’s extended the celebration to the country’s early risers – people who wake up earlier than everyone else in service of their community, like PUV drivers, barangay tanods, traffic enforcers, security guards and public health workers. Thus, all participating National Breakfast Day stores each gave away 100 more free Sausage McMuffins to their chosen group of early risers. This initiative is McDonald’s way of saying “thank you” for the great work that they do. “While the National Breakfast Day is for our customers, we included the early risers as part of giving recognition and thanks to those who are serving the community. They wake up so early, and often end up not having breakfast,” expounds Yang.
“On our third year of National Breakfast Day, the entire McDonald’s family is happy that even more Filipinos were able to join the celebration. We hope that both our customers and our early risers enjoyed the goodness of a McDonald’s breakfast.”