McDonald's transcends popular culture. Nearly every American has eaten there and even celebrities succumb to the chain's popular fast-food offerings.
Over the past few years, the No. 1 burger chain has capitalized on that posiition by offering "Famous Orders," meals picked by big-name celebrities. This was a brilliant strategy by McDonald's (MCD) -) because it did not require adding any new items to its menu.
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A 2021 collaboration with rapper Saweetie, for example, led to the "Saweetie Meal, a Big Mac, 4-piece Chicken McNuggets, medium fries, a medium Sprite, Tangy BBQ Sauce, and “Saweetie ‘N Sour” sauce, which was just the chain's Sweet and Sour sauce playfully renamed.
The BTS meal did involve adding two sauces offered on its South Korea menu to its U.S. stores, but for the most part, the Famous Orders promotion just used existing menu items.
Now, the chain has a new take on Famous Orders: the "As Featured In" meal.
It's a similar concept that will highlight when the chain's menu items appear in movies or television shows.
Image source: Kevin Winter/Getty Images/TS
McDonald's turns to a Marvel villain
McDonald's' new promotion will draw from how often the chain's food appears in popular entertainment. The "As Featured In" meal will group "fan-favorite menu items that have made iconic appearances throughout film, television, and music."
The promotion starts Aug. 14 and will be offered in more than 100 countries. McDonald's will offer exclusive merch and never-before-seen content along with the special menu.
McDonald's will kick off the promotion with a meal seen on season two of the Walt Disney (DIS) -) streaming series "Loki."
"For a limited time, fans can relive the magic of their favorite characters and artists with one of three main menu items and sides -- all famously featured," the company said. "The meal varies globally but will include a choice of 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, Quarter Pounder with Cheese, or Big Mac Sandwich along with medium World Famous Fries, the newly-branded Sweet ‘N Sour Sauce – inspired by Marvel Studios’ “Loki” Season 2, streaming Oct. 6 on Disney+."
To complement the "Loki" meal, McDonald's has partnered with Palace, a London-based skate and streetwear brand that has featured McDonald’s across its designs and skate videos, to create custom merch. Fans who purchase the "As Featured In" meal can scan the code on the packaging to access the exclusive Palace McDonald's merchandise line.
McDonald's has not specified which other movies or TV shows will be featured in the promotion.
McDonald's takes a global approach
The sneaky big news here is that McDonald's is launching the promotion in 100 countries all at the same time. That's partly because Disney is also a global brand, but it's also part of the chain's efforts to globalize its operations.
CEO Chris Kempczinski talked about the strategy during the chain's second-quarter-earnings call.
"As we've previously shared, accelerating the organization is an initiative to reimagine how we work to bring the full breadth of McDonald's skills and experiences together to come up with the best solutions that can be scaled," he said.
"We're bringing this to life through One McDonald's Way, horizontal ways of working and digitizing the organization."
The CEO says the company already has some of its answers; it just needs to look harder to find them and scale them globally.
"While we're just beginning to change our ways of working, we're already seeing early benefits. I've often said that the next great solution will come from our markets and in our restaurants," he added.
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