McDonald’s is famous for producing some of the world’s most iconic campaigns, but few expected its purple monster Grimace to light up the new effectiveness category at last year’s Cairns Crocodiles Awards.
Before we dive into how McDonald’s turned one of the most competitive categories purple, here’s a fun fact.
Did you know that Grimace is actually meant to represent a giant taste bud?
B&T discovered this remarkable fact when interviewing McDonald’s Australia CMO Annabel Fribence for this year’s B&T CMO Power List.
It turns out that reintroducing Grimace to Australia proved a tasty treat for consumers.
In 2024, McDonald’s had a sharp decline in sales and footfall due to various factors including the cost of living crisis, rising material costs and an over-saturated fast food market.
After proving a viral hit in the US, the Golden Arches gambled on bringing the Grimace Shake to these shores.
Problem was, Grimace has been absent from McDonald’s Australia marketing for 20 years, and the shake was subject to the TikTok viral death shake trend.
McDonald’s needed a campaign that could reach and engage a broad audience from Gen Z to boomers and everyone in between.
The solution: a Hollywood style VIP ‘Very Important Purple’ Tour.
Working with Akcelo and OMD, McDonalds lent into the fandom and hype surrounding Grimace and his Shake by giving the giant taste bud a welcome fit for an A-Lister.
The campaign kicked off with teaser announcements at the 2024 AFL Grand Final and Olivia Rodrigo’s concert, including a co-ordinated “phone number leak”, followed by a baggage carousel takeover at Sydney Airport.
This was supported by influencer activity, social, PR, TV and in-store activations for a month, turning Grimace into a cultural moment.
The results were mindblowing. McDonald’s sold 4.5 million Grimace shakes, five times their target, with a return on investment of 605 per cent.
Grimace inspired a 75 per cent uplift on McDonald’s shake category, and McDonald’s raised $6 million for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
It’s not hard to see why Grimace Fribence’s favourite McDonald’s character, and worthy winner of the inaugural Effectiveness Cairns Crocodile.
The Effectiveness category campaigns that won silverware at the Cairns Crocodiles Awards are EV Direct’s ‘Challenger to Champion: BYD’s Rule-Breaking Growth in Australia’ by Yango, and Lion’s ‘XXXX’s Locate the Time to Win’ by Affinity.
