Remember the times back when we were all into nostalgia?
Better yet: Do you remember the last time you made a corny joke and it repeated itself down the line again?
Alright, leaving the nostalgic corny jokes aside, truth be told, all humans…all of us are into nostalgia. It’s a strong and powerful emotion or force that rebirths the sweet reminder of your youthful past, and a connection to a broader, common world.
This is also the reason why smart business leaders embrace emotional intelligence to establish a connection with clients and potentially increase revenue.
A prime example? McDonald’s.
Seriously, can you think of a business that employs nostalgia more frequently or more brilliantly than McDonald’s?
How the brand tapped into nostalgia to become cool again
These days, a high-profile collaboration is just as likely to be served at McDonald’s as a brand-new cheeseburger.
The fast-food restaurant has changed its public image over the last few years in an attempt to win over younger customers and become more relevant in the community. It has collaborations with streetwear companies Palace and Cactus Plant Flea Market in addition to artists like Cardi B and BTS.
According to Tariq Hassan, chief marketing and customer experience officer of the restaurant, this has been an ongoing endeavour for the majority of the last five years.
“We lost our connection with our customer,” Hassan remarked about McDonald’s status in popular culture a few years ago. “And as a result of that, ultimately, we lost the meaning of ‘I’m loving it.’”
McDonald’s was able to learn more about what customers desired thanks to a national listening tour. It resulted in the “favourite orders” ad, which showcased the preferred orders of well-known celebrities. The 2019 ad, which featured rapper Travis Scott, was so successful at its launch that McDonald’s iconic Quarter Pounders were out of stock.
Hassan urged McDonald’s to deepen its connection to popular culture when he joined the company.
“You can be iconic, but not still relevant in culture,” Hassan said. “There’s lots of brands that are iconic, but then fade into the culture.”
From childhood nostalgia to adult frenzy
A 2020 tweet served as the impetus for an initiative that McDonald’s continues to support today. “One day you ordered a Happy Meal for the last time and you didn’t even know it,” the brand’s Instagram account wrote in a post. When it received more than 24,000 likes and 5,000 retweets, the McDonald”s staff took notice. “And we thought ‘what’s under that?’” Hassan remarked. “It’s really about childhood loss.”
The outcome was a grown-up Happy Meal created in association with the streetwear label Cactus Plant Flea Market. The combo consisted of a Big Mac or 10 pieces of Chicken McNuggets with fries and a Coke; there were no new menu items included. However, the Happy Meal-style box and the addition of a “collectible figurine” of the classic McDonald’s mascots Grimace, Hamburglar, and Birdie created a stir.
Many stores around the nation immediately ran out of the box, and some shrewd resellers started charging hundreds of dollars for the plastic toys on eBay.
For McDonald’s, that was a cultural transformation, according to Hassan.“You can imagine when you drop something like Cactus Plant Flea Market and you sell out in 12 days on what’s supposed to be a 30-day promotion. We had to turn around and spend time with our franchisees getting them comfortable with the fact that ‘It’s okay you sold out.’”
McDonald’s has increased their focus on streetwear ever since. In addition to releasing a limited-edition apparel collection with the British skate brand PALACE during the summer, McDonald’s collaborated with New York-based artist Kerwin Frost this month to create another Happy Meal-style combo featuring limited-edition collectibles.
By utilising pop-up shops and limited-edition merchandise, McDonald’s approach to these partnerships aims to evoke a sense of urgency more typical of the shoe business.
As opposed to being a conventional promotion, Hassan added: “When we developed these, the intent was to be much more shoe drop culture. Our approach to [quick-service restaurant] has been a little more like StockX than we have.”
It looks like the strategy is working so far because the rare McNugget Buddies from the Kerwin Frost Box have already found their way onto eBay, where some dealers are asking for premium prices.
All in all
The journey of McDonald’s in rediscovering the magic of “I’m loving it” through nostalgia exemplifies the power of leveraging heritage and sentimentality in modern marketing. By embracing its iconic past while adapting to contemporary trends, McDonald’s has not only regained its cool factor but also solidified its place as a beloved cultural institution.
It must be noted, therefore, that in marketing, nostalgia, when wielded thoughtfully, has the capacity to transform brands and foster enduring connections with audiences worldwide.
(Tashia Bernardus)