Marketing coup from McDonald's
It all started with a Disney promotion
Time travel. The year is 1998, Disney has just released the animated film "Mulan" - and McDonald's is launching an international accompanying campaign. Asian food (or rather, what the company imagines it to be) is intended to whet the appetite for a visit to the movie. Customers are particularly excited about a new Szechuan-flavored sauce.After the promotion ends, the fast food giant takes the dip out of the program again. It lands in the weekly special graveyard, where it is laid to eternal rest alongside Mexican tortilla burgers and Western BBQ potato wedges.Well, not quite. Because even for fast food is sometimes true: There's life in the old dog yet again. What is unusual is that it was not McDonald's itself that breathed new life into Szechuan sauce, but a cartoon series called "Rick&Morty". In it, the brilliant mad scientist Rick and his grandson Morty experience adventures bordering on the absurd, characterized by pitch-black humor. A ratings hit for online streaming services like Netflix. Many viewers are millennials, aged somewhere between 15 and 25.
Rick wants the sauce back
During the first and second seasons of the series, it remains unclear for a long time what drives the scientist Rick in his escapades. Finally, however, the authors let him confess: All his life-threatening excursions ultimately served the goal of landing in a parallel universe in which the Szechuan sauce still exists. But his search has not been successful so far.
Fans demand revival
And suddenly things take on an almost unbelievable momentum: Fans of "Rick&Morty" demand in 2017 that McDonald's launch a new edition of the Szechuan sauce. The company is slow to respond, but then sends a container of the dip to Justin Roiland, the show's creator. Roiland immediately shares the whole thing via Twitter.https://twitter.com/justinroiland/status/891521911460470784?lang=deDann McDonald's follows up, letting individual stores distribute limited allotments of the Szechuan sauce on October 17, 2017. The stores nearly collapse under the rush of cartoon fans.https://twitter.com/McDonalds/status/914626606680952832
From a one-off campaign to a long-running success?
However, because not all fans were able to benefit from the offer by any means, their displeasure is making itself felt via social media. McDonald's marketing department sees a need for action - and at the end of February 2018 announces:https://twitter.com/McDonalds/status/966089747503427584In the fast food company explains in a three-part podcast when the sauce will be back on the market - and where it will be available: Twenty million servings will initially be distributed in the U.S., with international distribution not ruled out, it says.
Lesson in Millenial Marketing
What did McDonald's do right? Well, the company has recognized a trend at a time when its competitor Wendy's has long been generating more media attention with quick-witted tweets. The idea of announcing the return of Szechuan sauce to the U.S. market via a multi-part podcast is also a parallel to the sauce motif in the animated series: In both cases, what the sauce is all about is only revealed over several episodes. This increases anticipation.And the story shows: Millenial marketing must no longer focus solely on arousing desires in the target group - but must constantly observe and pick up on what the target group makes a trend of its own accord. Then, every now and then, real coups succeed that go far beyond an inconspicuous sauce pot in terms of their significance for a brand.
