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. For people to be fans of the brand, they need more than food to build brand affinity.

Over the years we have worked to rebuild people’s relationship with the brand. We have immersed ourselves in the world of Hip Hop, art, KPop and streetwear. And while we may have been successful, there was a fear of becoming expected. So as we moved into 2024, we wanted to build on our equity, but in a completely new way.

The client brief was: “build the brand and drive traffic with multicultural youth”. We needed to drive urgency, transactions, and sustain the buzz for four weeks.

Business objective: Increase the number of McNuggets sold per restaurant.

Communication objective: Ignite fandom around the new WcDonald’s Universe.

In the world of anime and manga, only one place can call themselves the art form’s favorite restaurant: WcDonald’s. Yes, WcDonald’s. For decades, across hundreds of titles and thousands of scenes, McDonald’s has been bootlegged as ‘WcDonald’s’ to avoid official licensing.

And instead of sending cease and desists, McDonald’s leaned into the joke and flipped their arches, too. Making anime’s favorite fictional restaurant a reality for anime fans across the world.

Authenticity was our north star, so to bring WcDonald’s to life in a way that would deeply resonate with true fans, we took a page out of real anime playbooks. Looking at tactics across varying anime series as inspiration, we identified three key tenants to serve as our creative compass.

From the beginning, we recognized that we were entering a space and concept that existed far before our campaign. As visitors to the anime space, borrowing the IP of WcDonald’s, we knew that showing up authentically and mirroring the behavior of our fans was paramount. We studied the ways in which anime fans engaged with the material and with each other, and reflected those insights at each touchpoint. From creating custom GIFs for the comment sections to a new Community Management language that included Japanese phrases and kaomoji, we strived to speak the language of our fans and celebrate them.

Bringing anime to life extended past just the films and digital mangas but we meticulously seeped into every touchpoint for fans.

Starting with the new WcDonald’s sauce which featured a holographic finish on the front panel of the packet. We made history by flipping the iconic golden arches upside-down on the box of the World Famous Fries. The McNuggets clamshell design emulated bold title cards commonly seen in anime, while the infamous brown McDonald’s to-go bags showcased a unique manga story written and drawn by the acclaimed Acky Bright. We even went as far as printing manga on our receipt tape, truly giving our fans everywhere the chance to feel like they’re actually in an anime.

The WcDonald’s campaign just wrapped, but the initial results look promising.

Business objective: Increase the number of McNuggets sold per restaurant.

WcDonald's campaign effectively drove consumer interest and participation, with the WcDonald's sauce cup units coming in at the highest-end of our projections in the first full week and maintained momentum to land strongly within our projections for the full campaign. The campaign also performed at the high-end of our expectations for Chicken McNuggetscontributing to a notable increase in sales for the total line.

Communication objective: Ignite fandom around the WcDonald’s universe.

6.3B potential reach.

96.6K mentions.

29.6M impressions.

784.4K engagements on social.

Beyond stats, we saw amazing engagement. Fans eagerly anticipating a real-world WcDonald’s experience showed their excitement as our pop-up event sold out in minutes. They created art, cosplayed, and even developed a cryptocurrency based on our episodes, truly making it their own.