While the fictional groups of Netflix’s surprise hit “KPop Demon Hunters” have dominated K-pop discourse in 2025, next 12 months will see the genre’s hottest band return to streamers, stereos and stages the world over. BTS, the record-setting boy band formed in 2010, can be back for the primary time since 2022, as its members have accomplished their mandatory South Korean military service.
To help construct — and profit from — buzz across the return of BTS, McDonald’s recently worked with agency IW Group to bring a a part of BTS fandom to life in Los Angeles. From Sept. 26-28, greater than 3,000 fans attended the TinyTAN Happy Meal Magic Meet-Up. TinyTAN characters are animated versions of BTS band members which have appeared as toys, in video content and, earlier in September, as Happy Meal figurines.
The cultural play, which the brand’s agency reported attracted fans of all ages, is a method that McDonald’s is attempting to forge stronger connections to consumers who’re expected to proceed to face economic headwinds into 2026. The chain’s U.S. comparable sales grew 2.4% in Q3 2025, a rise it attributed partially to a $40 million incremental marketing spend around its value menu.
“This activation was not nearly food; it was about belonging. Fans could interact, create, and share magical moments in person, embodying the creativity, optimism, and connection that outline the TinyTAN experience,” said Betsy Lotspeich, McDonald’s marketing manager for campaigns, in emailed comments.
The TinyTAN Happy Meal toys and Magic Meet-Up built on the success of McDonald’s 2021 collaboration with BTS, as a part of its popular Famous Orders platform, that included in-app content, a merch line and national TV promoting. That initial effort lifted app installs, every day average app users and netted thousands and thousands of impressions for McDonald’s. To re-engage the group’s fans — the self-described BTS Army — McDonald’s enlisted IW Group to amplify the TinyTAN partnership and tap into renewed interest around BTS as its hiatus involves an end.
The Magic Meet-Up experience took about 45 minutes to explore and included photo opps, claw machines, a dance experience, a mini version of a McDonald’s that turned into an audio-visual disco, a mocktail bar and, in fact, McDonald’s food. While the BTS meal engaged consumers digitally and in restaurants, the meet-up was intended to be a fully sensory, interactive celebration.
“What higher than to create a possibility for all of the fans to get together, who have not seen one another in about three years, to return together and experience and rejoice their fandom,” said IW Group Chief Innovation Officer Telly Wong.
Measuring fandom
As with any cultural play, McDonald’s marketing around BTS required an authentic touch to foster connections with fans and consumers. The IW Group team included several members of the BTS Army and K-pop fans usually, including some folks who worked on the 2021 BTS campaign and had encouraged McDonald’s to mimic an album roll out when releasing the BTS meal. The need for authenticity is particularly true close to K-pop fandom, where global fan bases exert their power online and in stores.
“What really differentiates [the fandom] is the vastness of the community online, but in addition how they’re able to translate their influence online and produce it into real life experiences,” Wong said. “When the BTS Army gets behind something, you really see the impact in the true world. It’s not only social chatter.”
To measure that impact, McDonald’s and IW Group concentrate on traditional key performance indicators (KPIs), including attendance, engagement, social reach, earned media and brand sentiment, in addition to real-time feedback in regards to the fan experience around social chatter, user-generated content and post-event sentiment.
“At the TinyTAN Magic Meet-Up, the long lines, diverse guests and broad range of ages showed we reached each dedicated fans and on a regular basis customers,” said Lotspeich. “We proceed to observe how fans create and interact after the event, which shows the lasting impact of those shared moments.”
Inclusivity continues
While McDonald’s work with IW Group has focused on the agency’s roots within the Asian American and Pacific Islander space and fan-driven communities around anime and K-pop, the meet-up in September became a mass-market activation that helped the brand reach a fandom that has grown beyond just Asian consumers.
“That’s the one pivot that we see from our side, being a multicultural agency: the silos are breaking down a little bit, when it is smart,” Wong said. “They understand that this brought a broader audience than simply one particular segment and that is a wonderful thing about working with McDonald’s. They really understand culture.”
McDonald’s cultural marketing work with multicultural agencies continues, whilst the chain has modified priorities around diversity, equity and inclusion, a move that brings the corporate in keeping with a larger pullback in DEI across the company landscape. Working with agencies like IW Group ensures that such efforts are rooted in real insights — not outside commentary, in accordance with Lotspeich.
“We highlight creativity, fandom, and self-expression — the universal human experiences that transcend barriers,” she said. “Our goal is to create spaces where everyone feels welcome on the table.”
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