McDonald’s on Monday laid out a new strategic plan, called McDonald’s > NEXT, that looks to boost growth and productivity at the fast-food giant. While McDonald's has seen four straight quarters of same-store sales growth, the chain is contending with increased competition and persistent economic pressures. Along with innovating its menu, reimagining restaurants and redefining hospitality, the chain is working to connect with consumers by evolving its marketing to prioritize the type of efforts that have stoked sales.
“Customers today don’t just want to see the brand, they want to feel part of it,” said Morgan Flatley, executive vice president, global chief marketing officer and new business ventures, in a statement. “We’re creating brand-led content and co-creating with fans to reach consumers where they are – in relevant and personalized ways.”
Social media marketing has been one of McDonald’s strengths over the last few years. The chain notched billions of views on TikTok around a birthday celebration promotion for brand mascot Grimace; utilized consumers’ social postings to hype the return of the Snack Wrap; and turned to social for a reality TV-inspired campaign celebrating its employees.
McDonald’s has also found success with fandoms around films like “The Minecraft Movie,” music groups including BTS, enduring characters like the Grinch, gaming, anime, sneakers and more. As part of its new strategic plan, the chain wants to “keep doubling down on all these pockets of culture,” explained Amanda Mulligan, director of social media and creators at McDonald’s.
“We don't just insert ourselves to insert ourselves; we don't just partner with a celebrity and do another Famous Order just for cultural clout. We really do treat these as ideas,” Mulligan said of McDonald’s social strategy. “What is the idea? What is rooted in a fan truth, that shared ritual, behavior, memory that all of our fans have that unite them?”
Social listening remains a key tactic as McDonald’s leans into changing consumer behavior as part of the strategic plan. The chain’s marketers work to immerse themselves into fandoms and subcultures.
“All of that attention to detail is what makes our work sing so well. It’s going to continue to show up always-on, not just in these marketing-calendar moments,” Mulligan said. “We aren't just adjacent to culture — we are the ones helping to drive it.”
Cultural activations
An example of how McDonald’s activates around “pockets of culture” is a recent collaboration with Nike and NBA star Devin Booker. The Phoenix Suns player designed his latest signature sneaker, the Nike Book 2 McDonald’s, with references to his time as a McDonald’s All American in high school and his love of the chain’s location in Sedona, Arizona, that swaps golden arches for turquoise ones. Booker reached out last year about the collaboration, which was an “obvious yes” for McDonald’s.
“He's very deeply connected to the brand, so it felt like an obvious partnership, and it leads into one of our favorite fan truths,” Mulligan said. “It doesn't matter who you are — celebrity, athlete — everyone has some kind of connection to McDonald's.”
Beyond the shoe’s design, the partnership included a scavenger hunt that put real-world clues across social content and a sweepstakes that drove traffic to its app during its new beverage push. For the scavenger hunt, McDonald’s worked closely with Booker, who has previously given away sneakers through similar socially driven activations. The effort kicked off in May with a mysterious, found footage-coded video of a Ronald McDonald statue on a bench, but with his red shoes traded out for turquoise sneakers. Eventually, the brand released a video of Booker hiking to the bench that revealed details about the shoes.
“All these beats told a really beautiful story, and sneaker heads were going crazy and figuring out what's happening — ‘Is it a shoe drop? Is it a global release?’” Mulligan said.
The partnership culminated with an early access pop-up at the Sedona McDonald’s on May 29 that saw some diehards camp out overnight for a chance at the sneakers. In addition, a limited-edition Friends and Family version of the shoes were available on the McDonald’s App from May 22-28. The general release of the shoes on June 2 sold out in about 10 minutes, and when consumers start receiving the shoes, the brand expects user-generated content to continue the story.
“We inserted the brand into sneaker culture in a really authentic way, and now we're just letting those who are fans of the Book 2s and get their hands on them to do the rest of the work for us,” Mulligan said.
Surprisingly, the teaser video for the Booker collaboration was not McDonald’s only recent activation to adopt a found-footage aesthetic. The brand on Friday posted a two-minute video in the style of “Backrooms,” the online phenomenon turned box office smash. Because McDonald’s was already part of “Backrooms” lore, the brand had time to craft the video and include Easter eggs for hardcore fans.
“That's us being proactive, knowing what's going to pop up in culture, knowing what’s going to resonate with our audience and being able to show up authentically,” Mulligan said. “The reactive piece is also important. We can't predict the future, but we need to be ready to evaluate what's happening and figure out if there's a conversation we want to jump into.”
