McDonald’s is a brand that needs no introduction. However, its ubiquity and familiarity had left it in a place where it was well known but not well loved. By 2020, the business had seen 5 straight years of decline among young adults - the future not just of the QSR industry, but of America itself.

Our first big swing at reversing this decline was our Famous Orders platform, which brought Gen Z to our restaurants in droves as they sought to eat like their heroes, such as Travis Scott, BTS and Saweetie. As we moved into 2022, we wanted to build on that equity and continue our cultural proliferation, but with new creative ways in. We needed to drive urgency, and transactions too.

Commercial Objective:

Drive immediate sales with 18-24 y/os. And do it profitably.

Marketing Objective:

Grow penetration with this audience.

Communication Objective:

Drive brand fame among this audience.

To reignite young adults’ love for the brand, we needed to turn a visit to McDonald’s into a cultural event. We all know the feeling of pure joy getting a Happy Meal gives you as a kid. And McDonald’s social media had recently posted a poignant reflection on getting older: “One day you ordered a Happy Meal for the last time and you didn't even know it.” But what if that feeling didn’t have to end? Our insight was: “what if we could reawaken the childlike joy of opening a Happy Meal, but for adults?” Or more specifically, young adults - the hugely important audience that will determine the future success of this brand and business. And with that, the idea of making an Adult Happy Meal was born. This powerful insight gave us the ability to transform our business with a singular product, tapping into equity unique to McDonald’s.

The guiding principle for our PR and comms was to emulate the behavior and cultural codes of our partner, CPFM. CPFM is known to launch their products not through top tier media outlets, but rather through their friends & family. Young adults know about their launches by seeing new products on famous friends of the brand like Pharrell Williams, Kid Cudi and Kendall Jenner. To execute this campaign in an authentic way, we chose to painstakingly craft every detail to be just right. So, when considering launch, we knew we needed to take a page out of CPFM’s elusive playbook.

Inspired by CPFM’s personal memories of the McDonald’s drive-thru, and the theme of “friendship”, the entire campaign represented a true intersection of these iconic brands. Details fans would go crazy for, and wider culture would carry. The meal itself contained a first-of-its-kind artistic Happy Meal box, complete with meal options and 1-of-4 collectibles inside. We dug into McDonald’s existing equity wrapped up in the McDonaldland characters and created new equity by recreating them for a new audience, with a CPFM Twist.

From pre-buzz, to launch, and beyond, we nuanced our communications plan to match CPFM’s identity and their fanbase. To light the fuse, we reimagined the nostalgic Ronald McDonald bench and dropped it in locations across NYC. The internet caught fire, with fans guessing what all this collaboration could entail. Even before the box hit restaurants—on the day of our announcement - Cactus Plant Flea Market trended #1 on

The results were immediately astounding, exceeding all of our objectives:

Communication Objective: It became a cultural event, driving brand fame with young adults:

Media coverage was vigorous and widespread: across cultural publications like GQ, finance publications like Axios, and mainstream publications like the Today Show. WSJ declared “McDonald’s is cool again.” SNL even did a skit.

Fans scoured stores to collect all 4 figurines. They preserved boxes in resin. And covered social with art, memes, and joyful reactions to opening the box.

1B social impressions

Marketing Objective: Young adults bought the meal in equally strong numbers:

Record +4.1% penetration growth for 18-24 y/os YOY.

Commercial Objective: We drove strong sales, profitably.

$80M in sales

Record ROMI: >3X projected

50% sold out in first four days

The Adult Happy Meal set off a mass participation moment across the country, and reignited young adults’ love for McDonald’s.