Challenge

Traditional programmatic measurement often relies on modeled or partial signals, leaving marketers with limited visibility into actual consumer purchase behavior. For QSR brands like McDonald’s, understanding how media investments translate to real sales—both online and in stores—is essential to demonstrate efficiency and drive performance. McDonald’s sought a solution that could measure and optimize media based on verified outcomes, not proxies, and deliver insights in real-time while campaigns were active.

Solution

McDonald’s deployed an in-flight sales optimization solution built by Attain and OpenX that combined real purchase data with programmatic media execution.

Using OpenXSelect’s proprietary supply-side identity graph and curation platform, McDonald’s activated programmatic advertising across premium inventory. Attain then linked those media exposures to verified, real-time purchase data from more than 10 million opted-in consumers and over $700 billion in annual transactions, giving the team a comprehensive view of consumer buying behavior.

This integration enabled McDonald’s and OMD to measure and optimize toward true business KPIs, including conversions, incremental sales lift, return on ad spend (ROAS) and new customer acquisition. With daily performance insights and automated weekly reporting requiring no additional setup, the team could adjust campaigns in-flight based on actual transaction outcomes rather than relying on modeled metrics or delayed attribution.‍

Outcomes

By optimizing toward real, verified purchase behavior, McDonald’s achieved meaningful improvements across every key outcome—demostrating how outcome-based programmatic measurement can deliver real business impact.

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