McDonald’s App Goes to ‘Camp’ to Build Gen Z Loyalty

As kids heave off to actual camp, McDonald’s is releasing its “reimagined” digital version of organized summer fun aimed at Gen-Z customers. It features food deals, merch offers from designers like streetwear brand Ma®ket and concert performances by artists such as Kid Cudi. Oh—and yes—there is a “limited edition” Retro Grimace Pool Float users can buy. It’s all happening within the virtual experience that is Camp McDonald’s. Hosted within the McDonald’s mobile app, Camp McDonald’s is billed as 27 days of daily programs designed to generate loyalty among customers 18-years-old and up. Each day’s virtual events include a mix of “menu hacks” and food deals that invite McDonald’s app users to “build their own” Apple Pie McFlurry or McFlurry Sandwich. Those enticements are surrounded by app-only music performances by blackbear, Omar Apollo and BIBI, in addition to Kid Cudi. Two icons, one new, one retro: Kid Cudi and the limited-edition Grimace Pool Float at Camp McDonald's. It's also an attempt to showcase McDonalds' increasing focus on digital to grow its business, versus its historically heavy reliance on traditional media. Camp McDonald’s is squarely in the realm of the brand’s Accelerating the Arches digital strategy plan. The Accelerating the Arches concept tries to go beyond the usual interactive bells and whistles. The plan is predicated on getting five brand affinity-building elements just right: purpose (which entails striving for community connection); mission (relating its food to “feel-good moments”); values (inclusion is one); growth pillars (e.g., affordability and core menu items like burgers coupled with digital ordering and delivery); and grounding it all by inspiring its franchisees to run great restaurants. The ambitions associated with that effort can be found in the My McDonald’s Rewards program, which McDonald’s said has attracted roughly 30 million enrollments. BIBI at Camp McDonald's. With all that as the background, Camp McDonald’s represents Tariq Hassan’s first major creative swing at defining Accelerating the Arches. Back in December, McDonald’s consolidated its multi-million dollar national media buying and planning within Publicis Groupe’s Starcom, as part of an effort to streamline its digital marketing strategy. The brand has been working with Starcom to better align paid and earned media channels to strengthen its bond with younger consumers. Even before Hassan took on the role of chief marketing and digital experience in August 2021, after leaving his post as CMO of Petco, McDonald’s has been working to insert its brand into the center of pop culture. It’s trying to do so in ways that try to anticipate wider mainstream awareness of artists like blackbear, 1970s style apparel maker Free & Easy (see LeBron James’ “Don’t Trip” hat) and Korean skincare marketer Innisfree. “McDonald’s is one of the world’s most democratized brands, so we’re not only looking to participate in culture, but also find ways to create it,” Hassan told Adweek through a spokesperson. blackbear is one of the artists providing Camp McDonald's with exclusive, app-only performances. Camp McDonald’s will start to be explained in a TV spot by Wieden + Kennedy New York, set to air Tuesday July 5. “No matter what camp meant to you growing up, this campaign allows you to attend Camp McDonald’s without packing a bag—and in a way that seamlessly marries culture and commerce,” Hassan said. “This is camp like you’ve never seen it before—and I can’t wait to open the (digital) gates and welcome everyone next week.” McDonald’s Is Loving Workplace From Meta

Branding

McDonald’s App Goes to ‘Camp’ to Build Gen Z Loyalty

The 27-day virtual festival represents Tariq Hassan’s vision for ‘Accelerating the Arches’

David Kaplan

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David Kaplan