December 2, 2024 • 9 mins
McDonald's recent partnership with Doodles marks a significant leap into Web3 and culture marketing for the fast-food giant. This collaboration, launching on November 18, 2024, introduces a holiday-themed campaign called "GM Spread Joy" that blends physical and digital experiences12.
The campaign features:
This partnership demonstrates how restaurant brands can leverage Web3 technologies for loyalty programs and cultural engagement. By collaborating with Doodles, a Web3 entertainment brand that evolved from an NFT project, McDonald's is tapping into a younger, tech-savvy audience
#RestaurantInnovation #DigitalMarketing #BrandEngagement
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📈 Learn More ~ Restaurant Power Index featuring the top 50 brands' performance in consumer sentiment based on 12 performance markers in food, service, and overall brand consumer sentiment. The RPI features historical and current sentiment analysis for key brands based on the overall market sentiment data. Subscribe for weekly reports on the top brands in the restaurant industry. https://www.savor.fm/restaurant-power-index
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The campaign features:
- Limited-edition McCafé cups with custom Doodles artwork
- A digital "pack-ripping" experience through the McDonald's app
- Unlockable digital wearables and animated content
This partnership demonstrates how restaurant brands can leverage Web3 technologies for loyalty programs and cultural engagement. By collaborating with Doodles, a Web3 entertainment brand that evolved from an NFT project, McDonald's is tapping into a younger, tech-savvy audience
#RestaurantInnovation #DigitalMarketing #BrandEngagement
🫶 Subscribe NOW - Unlock a world of knowledge, innovation, and growth from the largest podcast network in food service! - https://savorfm.substack.com/
📈 Learn More ~ Restaurant Power Index featuring the top 50 brands' performance in consumer sentiment based on 12 performance markers in food, service, and overall brand consumer sentiment. The RPI features historical and current sentiment analysis for key brands based on the overall market sentiment data. Subscribe for weekly reports on the top brands in the restaurant industry. https://www.savor.fm/restaurant-power-index
Follow on X: Savor_fm
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You guys may not know this.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I wrote a book not Got over a decade ago,
and the book was really about a changing consumer landscape
that was happening in the restaurant industry. It was all
about social and next generation technology. So it has been
and I've been going around this for quite some time.
Of course, we have been covering the topic of what
McDonald's is doing for quite some time because they were
(00:31):
the natural next evolution for possibly Web three components. And
I think this is just the beginning. There's going to
be a lot more of them that will go in
that direction. But if you guys want to check those
videos out, here's what's happening with McDonald's. I want to
showcase this right here. This is their x account four
point seven million followers, and guess what they just dropped
right there, drinking out of a mcafe and doodles exclusively
(00:55):
starting right now on the eighteenth, So just around the
corner here we will have these available now. Doodles, as
we all know, is a Web three NFT project. How
is all this going to be tied in to McDonald's.
I think this is all built around a brand IP component.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
When you jump over to find a little bit more
about this.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
This is the McDonald's Dot Doodles dot app This is
McDonald's main app and of course the cool thing right
here is the integration. This is something that we've talked
about quite a bit, and that is for any major
company like McDonald's or others to really roll something out
in this next generation tech, you've got to do it
in your main line features of how you're communicating to
(01:33):
the customer, and that is what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
So kudo's McDonald's right there.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
There's going to be digital apparel for your characters that
is eventually going to move to a physical component. Hence
the whole idea around figitals and of course the way
they're doing it is with these collectors. So here's a
good example. They're also made some crazy rare enamel pins.
These are going to both be physical and digital tied
up into Again, brands starting to understand what this means
(01:59):
in terms of building IP and consumer connectivity. I say
it all the time, is it is the next generation
of where marketing is going to be going for big
brands and really any brand for that matter. But definitely
kudos to McDonald's. This one is a big one. I
think this will be one that will be easily one.
Here's a good example. This is one of the team
(02:19):
leads at McDonald's. All their digital components will be traded
within the Doodles app, the studio app, and that of
course is all writing on base, which is something we
talk about here a lot in terms of the base growth.
The other thing that's going to play into this is
how they advertise it. This is the in store kiosk
program within McDonald's. So this is a big deal because
(02:40):
it's exposing the massive millions of people to what is
going on right here. And I think this will start
to create a lot of curiosity around how this program
is going to work. This could be a big one
for sure. The other thing is is the way that
they're going to go out and really kind of expose this.
And this is talking about a new kind of collaboration.
They're going to call out a test, but it's talking
(03:01):
about one hundred million cups. Now, this is pretty significant.
One hundred million people, even a very small fraction go
out and explore the app on Doodles. It's going to
expose them to the base ecosystem. We all know what
that means. Ethereum is playing into this as well. I
want to go to a clip real quick, because this
is the how the collectible cups went viral.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Take a look.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
McDonald's is currently giving away these collectible cups honoring classic
Happy Meal toys like the Teeny Babies, Jurassic Park cups,
and Trek toys. The catch is that you'll just be
given this cup in an opaque blue bag, so you
won't know which cup you're getting exactly. This seller is
pricing the Hello Kitty Snoopy cup for forty five dollars,
which is pretty crazy because these things are actually selling
for more than the original Jurassic Park cups that they
(03:44):
were paying tribute.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
To those cups that I just talked about right there.
This is what saved their Q three earnings, so take
a look.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
We acknowledged that our performance so far this year has
fallen short of expectations, with negative global COMP sales for
the quarter amid a challenging in history environment. However, US
COMP sales were positive for the third quarter.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
Recently, we launched the Collector's Edition campaign and drove high
checked full margin traffic into our restaurants and giving customers
more reason to purchase core menu items. The campaign drove
customers to our restaurants, especially in the US Collector's edition
maximize the power and scale of our global brand while
(04:24):
ensuring local flexibility and cultural relevance to connect fans in
unexpected ways. Similarly, the UK's near sellout of the Grimace
Shake promotion in forty eight hours is proof that when
we share and scale world class ideas across markets, we
can maximize impact investing in innovation and pairing that with
(04:45):
fresh marketing ideas.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
All right, So I think McDonald's came to a realization here,
and that is that collectibles are our thing. It is
going to be something that they're going to be a
part of from a BRANDIGP delivery point going forward. They
are going to have to figure out how to scale
this though, and I think the only way it scales
is to move it into digital.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
That's where Doodles comes in. Doodle's Studio moves to base.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
We talked about this not too long ago on Magic
Eaten just to give an example.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
This is what Doodles is doing.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
After the launch and the relationship with McDonald's, I anticipate
we're probably going to see a lot of movement on
the NFT project itself. I'm going to go to another
clip here and this will get into a little bit
more detail on Doodle CEO saying, hey, get ready to
watch this.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
We have over two hundred and sixty million views on
YouTube this year. Like that's massive. No one in Web
three comes even close to that. This product that we've
developed in the Doodle studio, Like, we're over forty thousand
users now in very short order. So what you can
expect from us more entertainment product, some massive brand partnerships
that's going to get not just everybody in Web three excited,
(05:51):
but people far and wide around the world.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
The potential for an extension of the brand itself. The
collaborations are going to start pouring in, but I think
you're going to see a handful of others that will
also make their way into the market.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Here's one to be thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Grimas may be the endplay here, and I'll explain that
in a second. This is what they serve on a
daily basis right there, eight million cups of coffee a day.
They're testing this with one hundred million, so you're talking
basically about.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Two weeks of supply.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
This could go viral so fast and could become the
next evolution of how brands truly start to tack into this.
This is what I think is huge and why it matters.
But donald also is doing a drop of their first
reviewsable cups. Now this isn't necessarily the answer, and I'll
(06:41):
explain it in a second, but the idea is is
they're looking at reusable cups as a collectible. They're probably
going to tie this in. I think the real question
here is how do they figure out scale. We've talked
about it a couple of times. Scale is one of
the biggest things that you have to be able to do,
so much so that Pepsi, Starbucks all looking at the
same thing reusable cups. Let's go go this direction. If
(07:03):
you're looking at brand ip, though, the delivery of that
can only go so far because eventually you're going to
be looking at problems with plastic in general. That's not
going to be something that the next generation is going
to be fond of. It's also already being attacked in
many other countries. Global companies like Starbucks and McDonald's are
(07:23):
definitely going to face some headwinds on all of that.
I want to go to this right here, because this
is the vice president of marketing over at McDonald's explaining
a little bit more about this program.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Take a look. Can you talk about a career highlight
for you?
Speaker 7 (07:35):
I took my mom in South Africa, she's from, of course,
a different generation, and we stopped at a McDonald's and
when we walked into the McDonald's I was like, this
is my cup and she was like, yell is whatever.
I know you work at McDonald's. Let's just get some coffee.
I was like, no, no, no, this is the cup
that I designed. They carried that US design international and
I didn't realize that at the time. It was a
(07:56):
career moment for me.
Speaker 6 (07:57):
The business impact of the Grima's birthday was significant and sustained,
and you could actually measure that correct.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
Yes, can't reveal numbers, but we saw our fans starting
to talk about Grimace more on our behalf. It started
within our adult happy meal that we had. People got
really excited about those characters again. We started running out
and the fans were like, it's okay. McDonald's is always
about assured supply or for the years I've been here,
it's always been about a shared supply, where the consumer
(08:25):
behavior is changing to where it is okay to have scarcity,
okay to run out on certain things. Now we're not
going to run out of a big Mac. It allowed
us to enter the conversation in a more authentic way,
and I am excited to see how that voice is
going to continue to grow and continue to shape what
is going on in the industry. Whatever it is. There
(08:46):
is just something right now that is happening, and it's
been happening in the little parts, but now it's like
it's unleashed, unconstrained, and I'm excited about.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
That, all right, So I'm in agreement with her. I'm
excited about it too. And remember that Grimace, I think
is still the cornerstone of where a digital ip could extend.
For McDonald's, one of the few that are out there
that could really win big. We've talked about this many times.
We did a whole video on what we thought. All right,
all right, hopefully this gives you a little bit of
a breakdown on this. I think you're going to see
(09:17):
a lot more of these kinds of collaborations. This may
just be the very beginning with McDonald's and many others,
but Scalability is going to be very critical here, and
I think that's where digital becomes reality.
You guys may not know this.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I wrote a book not Got over a decade ago,
and the book was really about a changing consumer landscape
that was happening in the restaurant industry. It was all
about social and next generation technology. So it has been
and I've been going around this for quite some time.
Of course, we have been covering the topic of what
McDonald's is doing for quite some time because they were
(00:31):
the natural next evolution for possibly Web three components. And
I think this is just the beginning. There's going to
be a lot more of them that will go in
that direction. But if you guys want to check those
videos out, here's what's happening with McDonald's. I want to
showcase this right here. This is their x account four
point seven million followers, and guess what they just dropped
right there, drinking out of a mcafe and doodles exclusively
(00:55):
starting right now on the eighteenth, So just around the
corner here we will have these available now. Doodles, as
we all know, is a Web three NFT project. How
is all this going to be tied in to McDonald's.
I think this is all built around a brand IP component.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
When you jump over to find a little bit more
about this.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
This is the McDonald's Dot Doodles dot app This is
McDonald's main app and of course the cool thing right
here is the integration. This is something that we've talked
about quite a bit, and that is for any major
company like McDonald's or others to really roll something out
in this next generation tech, you've got to do it
in your main line features of how you're communicating to
(01:33):
the customer, and that is what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
So kudo's McDonald's right there.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
There's going to be digital apparel for your characters that
is eventually going to move to a physical component. Hence
the whole idea around figitals and of course the way
they're doing it is with these collectors. So here's a
good example. They're also made some crazy rare enamel pins.
These are going to both be physical and digital tied
up into Again, brands starting to understand what this means
(01:59):
in terms of building IP and consumer connectivity. I say
it all the time, is it is the next generation
of where marketing is going to be going for big
brands and really any brand for that matter. But definitely
kudos to McDonald's. This one is a big one. I
think this will be one that will be easily one.
Here's a good example. This is one of the team
(02:19):
leads at McDonald's. All their digital components will be traded
within the Doodles app, the studio app, and that of
course is all writing on base, which is something we
talk about here a lot in terms of the base growth.
The other thing that's going to play into this is
how they advertise it. This is the in store kiosk
program within McDonald's. So this is a big deal because
(02:40):
it's exposing the massive millions of people to what is
going on right here. And I think this will start
to create a lot of curiosity around how this program
is going to work. This could be a big one
for sure. The other thing is is the way that
they're going to go out and really kind of expose this.
And this is talking about a new kind of collaboration.
They're going to call out a test, but it's talking
(03:01):
about one hundred million cups. Now, this is pretty significant.
One hundred million people, even a very small fraction go
out and explore the app on Doodles. It's going to
expose them to the base ecosystem. We all know what
that means. Ethereum is playing into this as well. I
want to go to a clip real quick, because this
is the how the collectible cups went viral.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Take a look.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
McDonald's is currently giving away these collectible cups honoring classic
Happy Meal toys like the Teeny Babies, Jurassic Park cups,
and Trek toys. The catch is that you'll just be
given this cup in an opaque blue bag, so you
won't know which cup you're getting exactly. This seller is
pricing the Hello Kitty Snoopy cup for forty five dollars,
which is pretty crazy because these things are actually selling
for more than the original Jurassic Park cups that they
(03:44):
were paying tribute.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
To those cups that I just talked about right there.
This is what saved their Q three earnings, so take
a look.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
We acknowledged that our performance so far this year has
fallen short of expectations, with negative global COMP sales for
the quarter amid a challenging in history environment. However, US
COMP sales were positive for the third quarter.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
Recently, we launched the Collector's Edition campaign and drove high
checked full margin traffic into our restaurants and giving customers
more reason to purchase core menu items. The campaign drove
customers to our restaurants, especially in the US Collector's edition
maximize the power and scale of our global brand while
(04:24):
ensuring local flexibility and cultural relevance to connect fans in
unexpected ways. Similarly, the UK's near sellout of the Grimace
Shake promotion in forty eight hours is proof that when
we share and scale world class ideas across markets, we
can maximize impact investing in innovation and pairing that with
(04:45):
fresh marketing ideas.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
All right, So I think McDonald's came to a realization here,
and that is that collectibles are our thing. It is
going to be something that they're going to be a
part of from a BRANDIGP delivery point going forward. They
are going to have to figure out how to scale
this though, and I think the only way it scales
is to move it into digital.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
That's where Doodles comes in. Doodle's Studio moves to base.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
We talked about this not too long ago on Magic
Eaten just to give an example.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
This is what Doodles is doing.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
After the launch and the relationship with McDonald's, I anticipate
we're probably going to see a lot of movement on
the NFT project itself. I'm going to go to another
clip here and this will get into a little bit
more detail on Doodle CEO saying, hey, get ready to
watch this.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
We have over two hundred and sixty million views on
YouTube this year. Like that's massive. No one in Web
three comes even close to that. This product that we've
developed in the Doodle studio, Like, we're over forty thousand
users now in very short order. So what you can
expect from us more entertainment product, some massive brand partnerships
that's going to get not just everybody in Web three excited,
(05:51):
but people far and wide around the world.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
The potential for an extension of the brand itself. The
collaborations are going to start pouring in, but I think
you're going to see a handful of others that will
also make their way into the market.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Here's one to be thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Grimas may be the endplay here, and I'll explain that
in a second. This is what they serve on a
daily basis right there, eight million cups of coffee a day.
They're testing this with one hundred million, so you're talking
basically about.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Two weeks of supply.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
This could go viral so fast and could become the
next evolution of how brands truly start to tack into this.
This is what I think is huge and why it matters.
But donald also is doing a drop of their first
reviewsable cups. Now this isn't necessarily the answer, and I'll
(06:41):
explain it in a second, but the idea is is
they're looking at reusable cups as a collectible. They're probably
going to tie this in. I think the real question
here is how do they figure out scale. We've talked
about it a couple of times. Scale is one of
the biggest things that you have to be able to do,
so much so that Pepsi, Starbucks all looking at the
same thing reusable cups. Let's go go this direction. If
(07:03):
you're looking at brand ip, though, the delivery of that
can only go so far because eventually you're going to
be looking at problems with plastic in general. That's not
going to be something that the next generation is going
to be fond of. It's also already being attacked in
many other countries. Global companies like Starbucks and McDonald's are
(07:23):
definitely going to face some headwinds on all of that.
I want to go to this right here, because this
is the vice president of marketing over at McDonald's explaining
a little bit more about this program.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Take a look. Can you talk about a career highlight
for you?
Speaker 7 (07:35):
I took my mom in South Africa, she's from, of course,
a different generation, and we stopped at a McDonald's and
when we walked into the McDonald's I was like, this
is my cup and she was like, yell is whatever.
I know you work at McDonald's. Let's just get some coffee.
I was like, no, no, no, this is the cup
that I designed. They carried that US design international and
I didn't realize that at the time. It was a
(07:56):
career moment for me.
Speaker 6 (07:57):
The business impact of the Grima's birthday was significant and sustained,
and you could actually measure that correct.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
Yes, can't reveal numbers, but we saw our fans starting
to talk about Grimace more on our behalf. It started
within our adult happy meal that we had. People got
really excited about those characters again. We started running out
and the fans were like, it's okay. McDonald's is always
about assured supply or for the years I've been here,
it's always been about a shared supply, where the consumer
(08:25):
behavior is changing to where it is okay to have scarcity,
okay to run out on certain things. Now we're not
going to run out of a big Mac. It allowed
us to enter the conversation in a more authentic way,
and I am excited to see how that voice is
going to continue to grow and continue to shape what
is going on in the industry. Whatever it is. There
(08:46):
is just something right now that is happening, and it's
been happening in the little parts, but now it's like
it's unleashed, unconstrained, and I'm excited about.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
That, all right, So I'm in agreement with her. I'm
excited about it too. And remember that Grimace, I think
is still the cornerstone of where a digital ip could extend.
For McDonald's, one of the few that are out there
that could really win big. We've talked about this many times.
We did a whole video on what we thought. All right,
all right, hopefully this gives you a little bit of
a breakdown on this. I think you're going to see
(09:17):
a lot more of these kinds of collaborations. This may
just be the very beginning with McDonald's and many others,
but Scalability is going to be very critical here, and
I think that's where digital becomes reality.
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