Cannes Lions

McDonald's The Szechuan Riots

MCDONALDS, Chicago / MCDONALD'S / 2018

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Overview

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OVERVIEW

Description

Our sauce giveaway had caused chaos and left fans not only disappointed and angry, but confused and jaded. What happened? Why so little sauce? Was this actually intentional as clever marketing? WTF?

So, we did something no company had done before in a time of crisis—we launched a public investigation into ourselves. And in the time of Serial, S-Town, and Making a Murderer, there was really only one way to unravel a mystery: a true crime serial.

We partnered with Studio@Gizmodo and Onion Labs to produce “The Sauce,” a three episode investigative podcast series. Real journalists interviewing real McDonald’s executives, Owner/Operators, agency partners, and disappointed fans—including EDM artist Deadmau5. Giving the world a laugh at our expense, while clearing things up with the surreal, stranger-than-fiction true story.

All setting the stage for the return of 20 million new Szechuan packets, days later.

Execution

By mid-February 2018, fans were starting to doubt whether Szechuan Sauce was ever coming back. We confirmed on our own social channels that it was, and teased "The Sauce" podcast to invite fans to get answers and hear the full story.

On Thursday, February 22nd, all three episodes of ‘The Sauce’ were dropped overnight across major distribution channels, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and our own site, WeWantTheSauce.com. In conjunction with the podcast release, we coordinated five embargos with Business Insider, VICE, Thrillist, Polygon, and USA Today and subsequent targeted media outreach to 19 additional outlets like HypeBeast, AV Club, Uproxx and Fast Company. And because this was a real podcast, we placed our paid media accordingly, including buying mid-roll spots on other podcasts.

Outcome

When faced with a challenge, instead of running or doing nothing, we chose to confront it. We owned our mistakes, apologized, and addressed people’s frustrations with self-deprecating, humorous transparency. We set out to prove that we cared about our fans and to make good on our promise to bring back enough Szechuan Sauce for everyone. And in return, our passionate fans shared their experience and helped change the narrative from a PR nightmare to a brand win.

In less than two weeks, from February 20th - March 2nd, our effort generated more than 3 billion impressions.

In its first 5 days, "The Sauce" surpassed 100k downloads, broke the Top 100 on Apple's Top Podcast chart and was featured by Apple's editorial staff in their New & Noteworthy section.

We garnered 81 top tier media placements that reached 35 million people.

And we didn’t just start conversations about Szechuan Sauce - we changed them for the better. Compared to October, positive social sentiment after "The Sauce" launch was 4x higher, and negative mentions decreased a staggering 92%.

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