McCain Surprises Canadians on National French Fry Day by Giving Them Fries with Everything

In a world where people can rarely agree on anything, 99.2% of people can agree that they love French fries. So it’s no surprise that the question ‘Want fries with that?’ is one of the most universally recognised in the English language, and is generally always answered with an enthusiastic ‘Yes!’.

As Canada’s largest French fry producer, McCain encouraged all Canadians to celebrate National French Fry Day by turning this well-known phrase on its head– giving them the opportunity to have fries with everything.

McCain’s National French Fry Day campaign kicked off on July 13th with fun short-format videos and influencer content featuring unsuspecting shoppers in a Montreal-based boutique being posed the question “Want fries with that?” at the point of purchase. After their initial shock at the notion of enjoying fries with a pillow or vase, they all quickly and enthusiastically answered “Yes!”

This video content was accompanied with a CTA encouraging Canadians to tag or DM McCain with images of recent purchases on Instagram, in exchange for a coupon for a free bag of McCain Superfries. McCain received tags and DMs for all kinds of different purchases.

McCain also partnered with a number of retail locations across Canada to surprise-and-delight shoppers with coupons for free McCain fries. 

The digital and in-store elements on National French Fry Day were a great success in terms of meaningful brand engagement, with all coupons being claimed before the end of National French Fry Day.

To remind Canadians that with McCain, you can celebrate National French Fry Day any day of the year, the brand followed up with a hero video, documenting the in-store surprise-and-delight giveaways in more detail. These videos featured a mix of paid talent and in-store shoppers, yielding genuine responses and reactions. 

“With this campaign, we wanted to encourage Canadians to celebrate National French Fry Day by helping them to enjoy our McCain fries with friends and family. There are few things in life that are as universally loved as French fries, so we saw this as a great opportunity to encourage togetherness.” says Matt Kohler, managing director, Retail of McCain Canada.

“Want fries with that?” is a phrase that people recognise around the globe. So it became our vehicle to prove that McCain fries are not only the perfect side to any meal, they’re the perfect side for everything.” says Lara Palmer, creative director at Rethink. “The reactions in the video say it all–fries really do make people happy.” Lara concludes.