McPickle
McDonalds Australia
Issue 51 | June 2019
Agency
VMLY&R
Creative Team
Paul Nagy Jack Emery Louise McQuat Phil Barnes Michael Gethin
Production Team
Edward Krause Bryce Waters Anderson Carloni Matt Barber
Other Credits
Isaac Lai Josh Peacock Sommer Smith Cary Plott August Lantay-Lefkovich Jo Feeny Olga Starush Cindy Chee Tabitha Fairbairn Tina Alldis Angela McCann Caroline Nguyen
Date
April 2019
Background
McDonald’s Australia found itself in a bit of a pickle. Their competitors were getting people talking by adding more and more ridiculous ingredients to their burgers – one replaced seeded buns with fried chicken! They didn’t want to follow suit. After all, why move away from a taste hundreds of millions of people already love? The brief was to find a way to keep McDonald’s involved in the conversation and remind their audience why they love burgers from the Golden Arches – all without any media support.
Idea
A new McDonald’s burger was launched, in conjunction with Mango PR, that looked like one of Australia’s favourites – the Big Mac – and it was packed full of an ingredient that people loved to talk, debate and even argue about: pickles! The McPickle appeared as a single post across Facebook and Instagram with zero media spend behind it, but it was an instant hit across Australia and the world. The thing was…the McPickle didn’t exist. It was an April Fool’s joke. But that didn’t stop people from making it for themselves.
Results
The results were truly astonishing. Not only did the McPickle April Fool’s story gain traction in Australia, but it ended up spreading across the world for days on end. - 96% positive sentiment. - Over 500 million impressions. - Equivalent to more than $12 million P.R. value and $4 million advertising value - Generated 800 plus media stories - $0 spend