Hidden in plain sight / McDonald’s finds a way to promote and sell a new burger by tapping into something Indonesians love: Japanese pop culture. This campaign illustrates the importance of local consumer research, as different strategies work for different territories. We’ve seen other brands do this successfully such as Head & Shoulders when it freed Indonesians of the fear of mispronouncing its brand name. Here, the Untranslated Ad understood the right tone to hit with locals, giving them a new burger to enjoy with a side of J-Pop.
McDonald’s has become somewhat of a pro at adapting to local markets and gaining traction for it. For example, in 2021, we reported on how McDonald’s Malaysia changed the name of one of its restaurants to its local nickname, Mekdi, to overcome perceptions of foreignness. The challenge was different here as McDonald’s already has a strong presence in Indonesia (in 2021, McDonald's restaurants in Indonesia generated sales of roughly $314m). However, the strategy of connecting with people by tapping into local culture worked just as well to launch a new burger.
They’re one of us / In this campaign, McDonald’s managed to become part of the language by using its understanding of Indonesia to turn a regular ad into a stunt and viral moment in local culture. Ica Zahra’s song acts as a Trojan Horse for a McDonald’s ad by disguising it under a catchy J-pop song and becomes part of culture, rather than just advertising to people. McDonald’s strikes the right balance between an ad and a piece of entertainment. On this, legendary practitioner of planning Paul Feldwick told us, ‘Advertising can and often has been something that people choose to consume, as long as it’s created to be entertainment and not a boring sales pitch or an offensive interruption.’ In this case, the people who connected with the song are primed to pay attention to the reveal about the lyrics, and are more likely to tune into the content of the ad.
