What happens when the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain and one of the most popular boy band collaborate? You get BTS x McD.
When the BTS Meal was announced, everyone knew it was going to be a grand success. It’s McD’s first collab that is being launched internationally. The long awaited meal is finally here…
What does it contain?? 10 Chicken McNuggets, medium fries, a medium Coke and two new dipping sauces: Cajun and Sweet Chili. These sauces have been picked by BTS themselves and are inspired by McD South Korea.
McDonald’s could have been extra, but everything from the name to the meal was short and crisp. What attracted BTS fans was the packaging. Purple colour with a white BTS logo next to the iconic Golden Arches of McD. But other than that, everything was the same.
But what lies behind this collaboration isn’t so simple. It’s a wicked but genius marketing strategy. McDonald’s turned this fast food chain collaboration into a global event. People are OBSESSED with BTS and McD knows it. And when they saw all those $$$, they took the collaboration to another level by introducing merch, BTS (behind-the-scenes) of the BTS collab and commercials with the band members.
This is a collaboration under McDonald’s Famous Orders programme that they announced in September 2020. As a part of their growth plan- Accelerating the Arches- they came up with an acronym:
M- Maximize our Marketing
C- Commit to Core menu favourites
D- Double Down on the 3-D’s (Digital, Delivery and Drive through)
Almost everyone has a go-to order at McDonalds. Their aim for the Famous Orders program is to collaborate with a celebrity or group and sell their go-to order to customers as a limited deal. This program is so powerful, it fulfills all of their growth objectives in one strike.
Their first endorsement was the Travis Scott meal, followed by the J Balwin meal. Both of which were grand successes. Travis Scott made $20 million from this deal- $5 million from the original endorsment and $15 million in merch sales. It was a win-win for both of them as McD was dealing with losses due to the pandemic, and this collab turned it around. From an 8.7% drop in the second quarter to 4.6% gain in the second, all thanks to Scott. It was a TikTok trend to order the Travis Scott meal. So much so that the trained workers recognised the internet catchphrases and lyric’s to his song “Sicko Mode.” Scott, himself, was very involved with advertising the deal. He even made illustrations for the ads, developed the merch and gave the catch phrase, “Tell them Cactus Jack sent you.”
BTS doesn’t seem like it’s going to disappoint. If anything, their meal is exceeding expectations. Malaysia was the first country in Asia to receive these meals and is currently selling 6 times more BTS meals than it anticipated. The response has been so overwhelming that the McD team has decided to hold off its influencer marketing plans. Keep in mind, this is while Malaysia is battling with a fierce wave of COVID and the country is under lockdown.
American fans, on the other hand, are slightly disappointed because the purple packaging isn’t available in the US. McD said that the same packaging isn’t available everywhere in the world, and that’s why the purple packaging isn’t available in the US. This led to people literally selling the purple packaging on platforms like eBay, all within 24 hours of the release. Fun Fact: Just the packaging is being sold at a higher price than the meal. In Malaysia, the meal costs RM15.7 and it’s being sold at RM21.9.
ARMYs (the official name for BTS fans) are known for their loyalty to the band. So of course, they would be incredibly tempted to buy the meal and show their support for V, Jungkook, Jimin, Suga, Jin, RM and J-Hope.
The advertisements really caught the ARMY’s attention. And in a very smooth move, they debuted a new TV ad featuring their latest hit “Butter.” The meals were only the tip of the iceberg. They are also incentivising fans to download the McDonalds app as it will give them exclusive access to behind-the-scenes content with Immersive backstage 360, the final backstage 360 experience, BTS x McD flipbook and a virtual portrait series. It seems like the ARMY is in for a treat.
They are also launching merch! From t-shirts, hoodies and socks to beach towels, robes, slippers to stickers, keychain’s, laptop pouch, Air-pods case, carry bags and more. Considering the fact that Travis Scott earned $15 million from the sale of his merch, BTS merch will boost earnings.
McDonald definitely pulled off a blockbuster marketing strategy. They didn’t create a new product for new customers. They popularised what they had been selling for years and created such a demand without adding anything new, except some South Korean McD sauces. Time to grab a BTS meal now!
The Echo-nomist 
Leave a comment