In its fourth and final iteration, the Wake Up Breakfast campaign was tasked with waking up you, dear breakfast lover, to the news of McChicken in the morning. That’s right, joining the ranks of the iconic Egg McMuffin on the McDonald’s breakfast menu were two new items: the McChicken Biscuit and the Chicken McGriddles. Their introduction marks a turning point, because with one bite of that crispy chicken alongside those buttery biscuits and syrupy McGriddles, McChicken will change your life…for breakfast.
And apparently that’s what happened, because people went a little nuts for these and the sales on these bad boys doubled what McDonald’s expected.
Credits: Creative Directors: Ben Tolbert, Chris Juhas | Creatives: Lulu Wimberly & Kailey Riggen | Producers: Aileen Ballat & Jeff Holiday | Director: Jess Coulter
While researching McChicken, we stumbled across a by-invitation-only Facebook group of 46,000 very active, very devoted McChicken lovers, who invented their own McChicken language and who post their McChicken conquests daily. Apparently, out of all the menu items at McDonald’s, McChicken is internet strong.
So before waking everyone else up to McChicken for breakfast, we knew we had to give these devotees something special. We got scrappy and put together a message for them in their own language and visual style, straight from the voice of Wake Up Breakfast himself, Craig Robinson. We told them not to, but they freaked out anyway.
We turned to content as a message and not an ad. The video was posted organically in the group by a moderator, and we spoke to the group in a way they understood and appreciated, making them our strongest advocates. They loved it, reposted it, shared it. And we showed that a huge brand like McDonald’s can find ways to act small and return the love to even the most niche group of devoted fans.
And finally, we extended the campaign out into social in a more graphic, thumb-stopping way. Bad breakfast = bad. McChicken = good.
Wake up your banner ads and billboards.
