Making waves with McRib®
What was the brief?
It had been decades since the McRib® last made an appearance on the McDonald’s UK menu. So, McDonald’s needed something eye-catching and unexpected to tease its return and build hype.
What was the strategy?
CRM was in a unique position to activate the initial tease phase of the campaign – sending ‘accidental’ emails and push notifications that would generate excitement and speculation, before moving into the through-the-line campaign of bold visuals and compelling copy.
What was the campaign solution?
Our activation began teasing the McRib®. Next, a series of emails that seemed to promote core menu items, but glitched with brief flashes of the McRib®. Then, as the campaign flowed through the line, we brought the creative to life in CRM.
What were the results?
Everyone was talking about it. #McRib trended at number 1 on X in the UK following the push ‘mistake’. Follow ups appeared in national and local press. And our click through rates were through the roof.
Campaign in Detail
Summary
Sometimes a brief comes in that you just know is going to be big, and the return of the McRib® was definitely one of them. A culture-defining moment, something customers had been crying out for on social media for years, and a plan of action through the line that was all but guaranteed to create headlines.
When our clients came to us with the concept, we couldn’t wait to play our part in activating it.
It had been decades since the McRib® last made an appearance on the McDonald’s UK menu. So long, in fact, that it had become a thing of legend – a fan truth which became the core of the creative. Was it even real? Will it ever come back? The opportunity to tease customers was tantalising.
CRM gives us the opportunity to communicate with millions on a one-to-one basis, making it the perfect channel to play out the first phase of the campaign.
Our activation began with an ‘accidental’ push message, email, and landing page. The push message boasted a huge 18.82% click rate – on average we’ve seen a 2.2% click rate for sends in 2024 – while our email had a 49.6% open rate, compared to a 28.5% average open rate.
We knew it would cause a stir, but in reality, it caused a storm, with #McRib trending at number 1 on X in the UK.
People across the country were debating whether our push was a genuine mistake or clever ruse. But it wasn’t just social media that got caught up in the hype – the press did too. Articles in the Mirror, Sun and more questioned whether the world’s most iconic fast-food brand had messed up. To quote the Liverpool Echo: ‘Someone from McDonald’s is getting fired.’.
Everything was going to plan, but it was just the beginning – Armadillo had more in store for our customers.
Next up was a series of emails, each designed to promote core menu items. But, of course, there was a twist. An eye-catching animation created a glitch effect, with the McRib® briefly flashing into existence. The hype was heating up and, once more, our work was making waves online.
From here on, the campaign was in full flow through the line, and we turned our attention to using our CRM expertise, innovation and insight to bring the campaign creative to life in email.
The glitch effect became stronger, and the messaging more playful, as we transitioned from tease to launch.
The McRib® is available from 16th October. We’ve turned ‘mistake’ into hype, now it’s time to see what our CRM campaign delivers in terms of sales. We’ll let you know when the dust has settled…