- McDonald’s is kicking off a recent menu promotion that pulls on the fast food chain’s wealthy history of appearances in film, television and music, in line with a news release.
- The As Featured In Meal, part of the Golden Arches owner’s Famous Orders platform, nods to McDonald’s references in media like “Seinfeld,” “Reality Bites,” “The Office” and more. The pop culture-oriented effort ladders right into a tie-in with Marvel Studios’ second season of “Loki,” which premieres on Disney+ Oct. 6.
- Customers who scan Sweet N’ Sour Sauce packets that include the meal can access exclusive Marvel content on Snapchat, with recent releases dropping weekly throughout the promotional window. A streetwear collaboration and nostalgia-themed restaurant takeover round out the campaign.
McDonald’s continues to align its brand around pop culture nostalgia with the As Featured In Meal, which is offered starting Aug. 14. The strategy shows the chain expanding the range of its Famous Orders platform, which generally centers on the popular meals of celebrities. Running in over 100 countries, this marks McDonald’s largest Famous Orders push so far, in line with McDonald’s Global CMO and Head of New Business Ventures Morgan Flatley.
Famous Orders has been successful since its implementation in 2020. The custom meals often don’t include recent menu innovations, making them a low lift on the R&D end. Instead, they’re comprised of a prefab selection of existing menu options that are supposed to represent what stars like Cardi B and Offset, Mariah Carey or K-pop group BTS might pick up on the drive-thru.
Rather than leveraging A-list endorsements, the As Featured In Meal relies on consumer familiarity with McDonald’s references in pop culture. In an episode of “Seinfeld,” for example, typically hapless George Constanza goes on a foul date that ends along with his companion — the daughter of his unemployment counselor — stating, “I haven’t had a Big Mac in an extended time.” The campaign highlights a spread of McDonald’s cameos over time, from movies like “The Fifth Element” and “Reality Bites” to the anime “The Devil Is a Part-Timer!”
McDonald’s is using the backward-looking approach as a runway to its latest product tie-in with the second season of “Loki,” a time- and universe-hopping streaming series in the Marvel canon. On Aug. 30, a Brooklyn McDonald’s location can be outfitted with ‘80s memorabilia as part of the partnership with the Disney+ program. The experience lasts three days only.
The meal itself gives consumers the selection between a 10-piece McNuggets, Quarter Pounder with Cheese or Big Mac paired with a medium fries, a medium soft drink and the recently revamped Sweet ‘N Sour Sauce, the latter of which carries codes that will be scanned to unlock exclusive Snapchat content from Marvel. Meals also include an extra code that lets consumers purchase recent merchandise developed in collaboration with London-based streetwear brand Palace. Palace on Aug. 18 is leading a takeover of the primary U.S. McDonald’s location in Downey, California, which incorporates a pop-up shop for getting the co-branded goods.
Creative was handled by Wieden + Kennedy New York, Alma, IW Group, Burrell and Boden (W+K is McDonald’s agency of record), while Publicis Groupe handled digital components of the campaign. Publicis Groupe also worked on paid media, together with Burrell, Navigation Blvd and Admerasia. The retail experience was led by The Marketing Store and Boxer helped design the packaging.
McDonald’s is trying to construct on a run of marketing that has bolstered sales with key young consumer groups like Gen Z. A campaign earlier this summer that celebrated the birthday of brand mascot Grimace became a viral sensation after TikTok users began posting horror parody videos of what happened to them after drinking a berry-themed shake attached to the trouble.
McDonald’s saw U.S. sales rise 10.3% year-over-year in the second quarter, a bump it attributed to strengths in digital, delivery and culturally tapped-in marketing just like the Grimace blitz, which now stands as one of the brand’s most socially engaged campaigns so far.
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