McDonald's Unveils Next-Gen Interactive Experience: Where User-Created Cuisine Reigns Supreme
Written by Carly Zymet
In a growing world of user-generated content, McDonald’s took consumer creation to a whole new level with the launch of their new WcDonald’s Sauce.
On February 27th, 2024, McDonald’s unveiled this groundbreaking collaboration targeting anime enthusiasts, integrating user-generated content and offering a one-of-a-kind dining experience on social media. Today, many companies are shifting from broad social media posts to niche networks, where there is an opportunity for connection among like-minded businesses and consumers. Niche communities such as sorority rush TikTok and fitness TikTok are becoming increasingly important for advertisers. Users can view the content they want to interact with without being oversaturated by posts that are of no interest to them. Interacting with niche platforms has led to a significant opportunity for brands to build community and sell their service to consumers who are engaged & interested.
As anime has grown in popularity especially in the United States. A sense of cultural connection and entertainment has taken its way among viewers. In the U.S., approximately 72% of people watch anime regularly, and anime’s popularity grew by 50% in the U.S. in 2020. Through the multitudes of different anime franchises that have emerged in the last 25 years, there is not only a sense of universal storytelling but a platform created for cultural understanding. With anime’s growing popularity in recent years, shows have been more accessible through streaming services, the video game industry, and other online platforms.
As anime's influence expands, its impact is felt across different forms of media including video games, manga, and webtoons, creating a diverse and rich ecosystem of content. Some of these popular series include Assassination Classroom, Sonix X, Cat Eye, and many more. The fictional spinoff “WcDonald’s” restaurant appeared in several current anime series. which caught the popular fast food chain’s attention, and sparked the creation of an actual, physical WcDonald’s restaurant.
McDonald’s has launched many different experiences to honor their fans' creative visions and to incorporate their talented customers’ user-generated content (UGC) into their restaurant. In a world where UGC is taking over the marketing scene, McDonald’s found a way to make their customers feel more seen and appreciated by bringing this virtual franchise to life. To do this, the restaurant launched the special McDonald’s Savoury Chili WcDonald’s Sauce, accompanied by manga-inspired packaging and episodic shorts. These new launches allowed customers to experience the anime world in restaurants and online, beyond just eating a meal.
To further highlight and show appreciation to the anime community, McDonald’s teamed up with popular Japanese manga artist & illustrator, Achy Bright, to design custom WcDonald’s packaging that connects McDonald’s deeper into the anime universe. A strategic move by the restaurant was to replace Happy Meal toys with manga-inspired packaging with Wcdonald’s characters such as Hashirune, a WcDonald's regular; Mr. Bev, the Crew jokester; WcDizer 3000, WcDonald's very own mecha, and many more to provide the fans with their favorite characters. But that is not all, Mcdonald's has begun to launch weekly digital manga drops that include a full cast of characters that are the same as the Happy Meal toys.
What makes this experience even more special for customers is the launch of the very first real-life WcDonald’s in Los Angeles, California which opened on March 9th 2024. Fans experienced a new form of interactive dining with a multisensory 360-projection mapping and immersive tabletop projections of WcDonald’s anime shorts. This restaurant exclusively sold menus of WcDonald’s items that users created, and McDonald’s expanded the campaign by exclusively working with OpenTable. OpenTable is an online restaurant reservation service that allows users' reservations to be confirmed instantly.
Anime is a huge part of today's culture and a great space for creativity for internet users online. According to Tariq Hassan, McDonald’s USA’s chief marketing and customer experience officer, “The WcDonald’s universe is a reflection of what fans have created. It honors their vision and celebrates their creativity, while authentically bringing it to life in our restaurants for the first time ever.”
