Situation: A pressing need to engage a younger audience who were disproportionately rejecting traditional advertising.

Brief: Reinforce the timeless and unrivaled iconicity of the McDonald’s menu for a new generation.

Objective: Win Gen Z’s hearts and drive brand affinity gains versus the Canadian competitive set.

Media Insight: Strategically lean into placements and creative formats that enable the target audience to engage with our ad content in their own way.

Reimagining the McDonald’s Menu Song for a new social-first generation.

Introducing the Menu Song Remix: a modern take on McDonald’s original 1989 track, crafted in collaboration with platinum artist Lil Yachty, a former McDonald's crew member. Alongside Lil Yachty, Montreal-born multi-instrumentalist Mike Clay created a French-language remix, recognizing that the Quebec market has different cultural relevance and followings compared to the rest of the Country.

The campaign featured a contemporary mashup of iconic McDonald’s menu items in song form. We also remixed the menu with limited-time Gen-Z-inspired items like the Surf‘n Turf burger, now a permanent fixture on the McD’s menu.

The campaign’s vibrant, unpredictable vibe was inspired by the artists' social media presence, strategically connecting with our target audience through authentic content and engaging media formats.

Music is the essence of culture. Young Canadians are exploring, sharing, and enjoying music in novel ways, sourcing tunes from TikTok, streaming music videos on YouTube, and curating personalized playlists. Despite evolving platforms, certain songs transcend generations, languages, and foster connections, becoming ingrained in culture.

To immerse ourselves in this cultural phenomenon, we launched like a music release, encouraging our audience to interact and play with our content.

Tease the Remix

Teased the remix through McDonald’s and Lil Yachty’s owned channels

Drop the Remix

Dropped the remix through high-reaching paid tactics to win over Gen Z where they stream music, watch music videos, and scroll mobile devices all day

Play the Remix

Created custom units for consumers to remix with Yachty through karaoke filters and customized user experiences matching mood to menu items

Taste the Remix

After seeing their fav menu classics remixed, we made it easy to order

Launching in March 2024, this was a 4-month cross-functional collaboration across multiple agency partners, blending the style, vibe, and cultural relevance of Lil Yachty with the iconic menu.

We achieved mass reach through TV and DOOH, but digital was where the remix truly thrived.

We teased, then we dropped the track across social. We built a remix experience to keep up with Yachty’s rap game on TikTok (6.3M reach with a custom branded effect & influencer content support), Snapchat (4.6M reach with a lens that allowed users to rap along with Lil Yachty), & Spotify (2.3M reach where users could create their own “daytime” playlist based on key McDonald’s menu items).

Finally, we tapped into YouTube’s mass reach (audience size: 12.6M) to takeover the Coachella live stream in Canada (100% SOV), including Lil Yachty’s performance & high-impact placements such as YouTube’s trending music & YouTube select shorts: Music Lineup.

Menu Song is still active in market, proving a massive success.

The Remix campaign drove immediate sales impact, with a 36% increase in burger sales in week one.

The social-first approach captured 85M+ earned impressions, 327K engagements, 7.1K conversations, and 93% positive sentiment.

Paid media delivered 114M+ digital impressions, led by social (75M+), OLV (37M+), and digital audio (1M+). Those singing along had an average playtime of 11 seconds on Snap and 8 seconds on TikTok.

Canadians wanted to be a part of Menu Song with 2X more digital purchases than other brand campaigns, 15%+ increase in app metrics and 7%+ lift in purchase consideration among music lovers.

“I LOVE YACHTY & MCDONALDS OMGGGGG” @gxstarz_6 on Instagram