Today in Digital Marketing

Behind the Trend: McDonald’s Ponders the #GrimaceShake

Jul 13, 2023 | Industry Articles

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Today in Digital Marketing

When Gen Z hijacks your campaign, don't fight it – live, laugh, lovin' it.

The viral “Grimace Shake” TikTok trend recently generated massive interest in the limited-edition Birthday Meal at McDonald's, but the brand exposure wasn't exactly what the company had in mind: The trend involved users pretending to be injured or even faking their death after drinking the milkshake. 

The hashtag #GrimaceShake has 2.5 billion views on TikTok, and has generated millions of mentions across platforms. 

🍟 Embrace the Chaos

Despite the tremendous reach it brought to the brand, McDonald's denied rumors that it planted the “Grimace Shake” phenomenon. The company’s social media director in the U.S. shared his perspective on LinkedIn yesterday about how they dealt with the unconventional trend. 

If you think we would never acknowledge the trend, well, I thought so too at first, so I won't blame you. Honestly, I think my very first text to the team and agencies was “not sure we should jump in”. It took us a bit of time to process what was happening. 

The campaign was already wildly successful, both on a social and business standpoint, so why would we take the “risk” to jump in? But hours of watching, reading the comments, trying to learn and genuinely understand helped us see what this was about: brilliant creativity, unfiltered fun, peak absurdist gen z humor, just the way a new generation of creators and consumers play with brands.

The fast food chain broke its silence by posting a photo of Grimace at his birthday celebration with the caption, “meee pretending i don't see the grimace shake trendd.”

Images: TikTok / McDonald’s

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