McDonald's – Inspired by Big Mac

The challenges and goals

Young Adults (18-24) ate fewer Big Macs less often than older generations. They were aware of the Big Mac, and many had tried it, but they lacked the connection to it, making it an icon for older generations. Previous generations saw the Big Mac in the hands of famous athletes and celebrities or brought to life with a timeless jingle (🎶Two all-beef patties, special sauce… 🎶 C'mon, you know the rest)

But Gen Z'ers didn't perceive the Big Mac as the cultural icon that it was. We needed to reinforce its iconic status in a way that they could identify with.

The insights and strategy

The Big Mac is the world's most famous burger. It's renowned for its iconic flavor and equally famous visual identity, including its shape, layered ingredients & distinct color palette. It rules the category.

But Gen Z'ers don't see the world as a collection of fixed categories or siloes; they see it as one giant cultural milieu to be reframed, reimagined, and remixed in pursuit of self-expression. We needed to transform the iconic Big Mac into a creative palette and put that palette in the hands of the most innovative generation out there.

So, we reframed the Big Mac from a famous burger to a modern icon by repositioning its ingredients - two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun - as an equally delicious creative palette to be remixed and reimagined in the eyes our Gen-Z guests. 

If your taste is iconic, you shouldn't have to say it. So we launched a campaign to show how the Big Mac could inspire Gen-Z culture as only the world's most iconic burger could. To reaffirm the Big Mac's iconic status with Gen Z, the way to their hearts was to talk about the burger and tap into their passions and popular forms of self-expression.

The execution

We evolved our approach to marketing the Big Mac from a solely food-focused message about craveability to one about cultural iconicity. Traditionally, we would have obsessed about the sauce, its size, or sizzling beef. Although 'taste' was still central to the idea, we were appealing to our audiences' taste in style, beauty & fashion this time instead.

We also uncovered the 'power of suggestion' that the Big Mac possessed. Our Guests would crave a Big Mac at the sight of anything that resembled a Big Mac! You definitely can't say that about The Whopper. This gave us the confidence to avoid relying solely on a traditional message about taste.

This was about reimagining our distinctive brand assets in a way that only an iconic burger could. With the confidence to relinquish creative control of our world-famous burger, we enlisted the help of six creators from the worlds of beauty, fashion, and graphic design.

We briefed them to reimagine the Big Mac using their unique creative abilities. The result? Six creations are as unique as their muse. From Big Mac-inspired Cowboy boots and a hand-knitted Big Mac dress to a digital avatar and Big Mac-inspired 'grill' (jewelry, not BBQ).

We turned our channels into a gallery to display this work and further inspire our audience. Across digital and social media, we showed off our creations and their creators in snackable 6s and 15s videos. In OOH, we acted like a fashion brand, using fashion-style photography of our products. And, on Pinterest - the internet's favorite source of inspiration - we created a Big Mac-inspired board using the burger's iconic color scheme, in which we included 'easter eggs' that could be redeemed for actual Big Macs.

The results and impact

We made it into their feeds, conversations, and cultural headlines.

Our Big Mac-inspired posts exceeded previous campaign benchmarks for Engagement Rate (ER), Video Completion (VCR), and average watch time (AVT).

We exceeded ER benchmarks on FB, IG & Pinterest by +4.37% and +0.14%, respectively.

On TikTok, we exceeded VCR by +277.6% and AVT per video by +35.1%.

Last, we established McDonald's – specifically the Big Mac – as a creative catalyst with the creator community and an enduring source of delicious inspiration to the next generation, cementing the Big Mac's evolution from a world-famous burger to a true cultural icon.

Creativity and craft

Creativity and craft are guaranteed when talented creators are empowered to do what they do best based on a culinary icon. That was, after all, the whole idea. The artifacts made by our crew of creators added even more layers of iconicity to one of the world's most recognizable brands.