Following the launch of McDonald鈥檚 50th Birthday last month, McDonald鈥檚 UK, working with its agency partners, has unveiled a final surprise to end the party on a high note. Grimace, the iconic McDonald鈥檚 character, is gate crashing the party, appearing at the birthday celebrations armed with the highly anticipated, limited-edition Grimace Shake.
The new, limited addition to the menu will be available in McDonald鈥檚 restaurants nationwide for one-week only (28th August - 3rd September). It is the first time the UK has been able to try the viral sensation, which features a blueberry flavoured syrup blended with a creamy milkshake base. The drink set social media alight when it debuted in the US last Summer with the hashtag #grimaceshake, amassing over 251.3M posts on TikTok[].
From today, the 50th Birthday campaign will be modified to focus on Grimace, with the creative from Leo Burnett UK given a purple twist. Grimace will also tease his arrival with a takeover of McDonald鈥檚 UK social and CRM channels, replying to comments and interacting directly with fans.
Not one to miss a party, Grimace will also attend McDonald鈥檚 first ever merch pop up shop on 26th August at BOXPARK Shoreditch from 12pm-6pm. Led by Red Consultancy, the 50th birthday event will give fans the chance to purchase Maccies merch from the exclusive 鈥業 Had My Birthday Party at McDonald鈥檚鈥 range. The new collection commemorates McDonald鈥檚 of the '80s and includes everything from collectable varsity jackets, sweatshirts, t-shirts, backpacks, bum bags and scrunchies. Plus at the event people will be some of the first in the country to taste the Grimace Shake before its official launch two days later.
On launch day (28th August), to ensure everyone can join in, Grimace will invite the nation to try the milkshake by hosting a tasting party on McDonaldsUK鈥檚 Instagram Live. He鈥檒l be DJ鈥檌ng from purple decks, accompanied by a giant countdown stating the time left for people to grab his shake. OOH fly posters by Leo Burnett UK, spotlighting the tasting party take inspiration from vintage rave posters, featuring illustrations of 鈥楽uperstar DJ Grimace鈥 and the event details.
Following the launch of the Grimace Shake, some of the original retro, confetti-adorned OOH, paid social and in-restaurant decorations will feature the lilac liquid drip of the Grimace Shake, as well as further reminders for customers to get their hands on the Grimace Shake while it鈥檚 here.
Matt Reischauer, marketing director - UK&I, McDonald's, said, 鈥淕rimace does what Grimace wants so of course he would gatecrash our 50th birthday celebration; it wouldn鈥檛 be a party without him. Seriously though, after so much fan demand, we are very excited to bring the delicious Grimace shake to the UK & Ireland.鈥
Andrew Long and James Millers, executive creative directors, Leo Burnett UK, added, 鈥淓very good party has a final surprise, and McDonald鈥檚 50th Birthday includes a colossal one. The buzz of Grimace and the Grimace Shake is all over social, we couldn鈥檛 think of a better special guest to close out our celebrations!鈥
The campaign was a cross-agency collaboration. Leo Burnett were responsible for creative and social, RED Consultancy led on PR, organic social and the pop-up, while OMD UK handled all media planning and buying. Linney led on the restaurant and below-the-line activations.