People first / The WcDonald’s campaign is further proof that McDonald’s new approach to marketing is paying off. The brand not only understands culture and its fans, it knows its iconic stature. But for brands who don’t have the same status or budgets as the fast food chain, it might seem the only takeaway here is to just be more like McDonald’s. Not so. The learning here is that McDonald’s put its audience and their passions at the heart of its marketing strategy. Getting to this point wasn’t easy, back in 2018 the brand was losing market share thanks in part to stale and rational advertising. Reversing this required a fresh approach to marketing, which is no easy thing to do, and you can read about the wider marketing transformation the brand has gone through in our brand spotlight here.
In our spotlight, Jennifer Healan, VP of marketing, brand content and engagement for McDonald’s US, summarised the new approach as ‘we now talk fan to fan – that’s the pivot’. That people-first strategy means McDonald’s can continuously find opportunities to create campaigns that are rooted in people and their passions.
One piece / It makes sense for McDonald’s to want to find a way to align with anime. After all, it boasts an incredibly passionate young audience that spans the globe. But successfully connecting with such an audience means doing more than a simple promotional campaign for a limited-edition sauce, it means showing them that your brand gets ‘it’.
Which is exactly what McDonald’s did. The brand didn’t just acknowledge the presence of its inverted logo in anime and manga, McDonald’s went all out in bringing WcDonald’s to life. Each campaign touch point is crafted to show this audience that McDonald’s cares just as much about anime and manga as they do. The name and logo change on Instagram, the WcDonald’s products, the packaging, all of that takes significant effort and commitment. The collaboration with Studio Pierrot, Acky Bright and Reol in particular takes WcDonald’s to the next level – McDonald’s understands this culture, who moves it forward, and gets what ‘it’ is.
Playing around / Even if McDonald’s wasn’t responsible for the initial twist on the logo, the campaign is still a bold flex at how iconic its distinctive assets are – whichever way you see those Golden Arches, you know it’s McDonald’s.
The brand knows how to lean into this: its out-of-home Lights On campaign saw only half a golden arch used to promote the brand’s delivery service, while the Raise Your Arches campaign, created by Leo Burnett, had no overt McDonald’s branding, but proved so successful in the UK that it was adapted for 34 additional territories. ‘You’re taught as marketers to diligently protect your distinctive assets and grow them over time consistently,’ Joe Beveridge, strategy director at Leo Burnett, told Contagious. ‘Once you’ve reached the heights of McDonald’s you can stretch and have fun with your distinctive assets.’
