Collaborations between food and beverage companies and musical artists have been especially standing out ever since the pandemic started. After Lady Gaga and Oreo, Selena Gomez and Serendipity, McDonald’s follows suit with BTS. Upon the new special project, McDonald’s shared with Rolling Stone some reasons behind the collaboration and how it affects its business.
McDonald’s have been signing some viral partnership deal through its Famous Orders program series. Travis Scott was the first artist to participate in the promotion, followed by J Balvin. McDonald’s last collaboration with a celebrity prior to these three, however, was with Michael Jackson, set back in 1992.
This program was started to highlight each celebrity’s flavour and style to each element of their campaigns. It comes as an attempt for McDonald’s to stay relevant and connect with the new generation as well.
McDonald’s: the impact of celebrity marketing approach
Through an e-mail conversation with Rolling Stone McDonald’s US Chief Marketing Officer, Morgan Flatley and the US franchisee marketing committee chair Vicki Chancellor also shared how the collaborations affected business.
Noted from Rolling Stone, McDonald’s managed to trend #1 and #1 simultaneously on Twitter right after the announcement of the partnership with Travis Scott. The video ads also reached #3 on Youtube. Even better, McDonald’s also recorded more peak highs engagement on its social channels following the partnership with BTS’ reveal.
Business-wise, Travis Scott and J Balvin Famous Orders brought significant changes in the second half of 2020 of McDonald’s US sales. The number of downloads for the McDonald’s app also increased during the promotions, strengthening the company’s digital business.
So far, McDonald’s have noted incredible support from BTS’ global fanbase. This, Flatley and Chancellor wrote, “was a perfect opportunity for many of them to get in on the fun”.
McDonald’s “BTS Meal” is out in several parts of the chains already on Wednesday (May 26th) morning. The set consists of chicken nuggets, fries, Coke and special sweet chilli and cajun dipping sauces, which originally came from McDonald’s South Korea recipes. The meal set will be available in more countries soon.
Along with the meal set, BTS’ parent company HYBE is also releasing exclusive merchandise available on the Weverse Shop app. Additionally, McDonald’s said to have some “never-before-seen digital surprises” coming soon in its own app.
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