McDonald's World Cup Promo Uses Augmented Reality to Turn French Fry Boxes Into Soccer Fields

With World Cup fever starting to take off, McDonald’s is trying to find new ways to make its sponsorship of the global soccer tournament pay off.

Among its marketing tie-ins is an augmented reality app, McDonalds Gol!, that turns the packaging of its french fries into a virtual soccer field. In the game, players try to flick a ball into the french-fry-box-turned-goal, bouncing the ball off various real world objects to avoid increasingly difficult obstacles.

The McDonald’s effort uses the latest version of Qualcomm’s Vuforia technology, which is designed to simulate various terrains and incorporate physical objects. The app, which works with both iOS and Android devices, also includes instant replay and the ability to share photos.

Augmented reality is one of those things that is perennially around the corner, but Qualcomm VP Jay Wright says it is starting to catch on, particularly with marketers looking to give more life to physical goods.

“This happens to be one of the biggest global brands on the planet,” said Wright, who heads the chip maker’s augmented reality efforts.

In all, Wright said, there are more than 9,000 commercial apps in the Google and Apple stores that take advantage of Vuforia. While some features of Vuforia require developers to pay, Wright said the McDonald’s implementation is not a paid one.

“This one is all about driving additional adoption for Vuforia,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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