If you didn’t get the memo, celebrities are flavour of the month.
The golden arches’ collab with the Queen of Christmas isn’t the first time a dash of star power has been sprinkled on a value meal…
For example, the McDonald’s x Cactus Jack partnership was a hit. As a result, the restaurant had to ration nationwide supplies of beef, bacon, and lettuce. Wells Fargo commended the collab for reconnecting with their “weak spot”, AKA the 11- to-24-year-old demographic. In addition, McDonald’s US reversed an 8.7% decline in the second quarter to a 4.6% incline in the third quarter.
@itslisanguyen Trying the McDonald’s BTS Meal #BTS #mcdonalds #BTSMeal ♬ Butter - 방탄소년단 (BTS)
Next, McDonald’s launched their BTS meal. This landed with a bang in 50 markets, boosting restaurant footfall by 12% the following week. After that, the collab went viral, naturally, with one eBay user selling a $99k BTS nugget. No, that’s not a typo. The hype even caused some franchises to shut up shop— yes, Indonesia, we’re looking at you.
Moreover, for four weeks after the launch, McDonald’s Korea noted a 250% increase in McNugget sales.
In addition, Saweetie’s Big Mac, four-piece McNugget and Sprite meal with a side of her iconic ‘Saweetie and Sour’ sauce hit restaurants in August.
Clearly, McDonald’s cooked up a winning formula – celebrity meal deals. But, it’s not a secret one — After this success, Burger King and Taco Bell have already taken a bite themselves.
Burger King launched ‘Keep It Real Meals’ featuring celebs like Nelly and Anitta. The twist? They named the meals after the celebrity’s real names, for instance, The Cornell Haynes Jr. Meal and The Larissa Machado Meal.
This campaign helped publicise Burger King US banning 120 artificial ingredients from their kitchens.
For years, celebrities have been used to leverage a brand’s legitimacy and cultural standing– it doesn’t take a genius to work out why. One celebrity endorsement can boost sales by 4% almost immediately. While that doesn’t sound like much, when considering McDonald’s reported annual sales of £1.5M-£4.3M, that 4% could bag them an extra 560k-172k before you can say, ‘would you like fries with that?’
You wouldn’t blink if a Balmain or Nike collaborated with a celeb, so why do we when Saweetie orders a Big Mac?
We’re used to celebs knocking back caviar, but when we see them chowing down a Big Mac, it feels unexpected. Why? Because it highlights the authenticity of the ambassadors when they share their guilty food pleasures with us. We can’t get enough of it, and we’re not the only ones.
Of over 30K Americans polled by data scientists Pipslay, 54% bought a BTS or Travis Scott meal or merch from McDonald’s. And those that didn’t? 25% wanted to.
Evidently, not only have celebs got selling power, but they’ve got staying power. A trend this tasty will not go away quietly, and the UK’s already ordering the in-house favourite — celebrity meal deals.
First, it was celebrity cameos in food delivery ads (honorary mention to the legendary Doggy Dogg Christmas). However, it’s now exclusive celeb serenades in Subway, or should we say, SubwAitch.
The Manchester Piccadilly store was revamped for the rapper in celebration of his new single, ‘Party Round My Place’. In light of this, we wonder what celeb the UK will serve up next…
Overall, if you’re searching for new ways to get your menu back on the market, celebs are the secret ingredient you’re looking for. And boy, do we have just the selection. Get in touch via info@seenconnects.com and we can get cooking!