McDonald’s is reveling in the success of its Q2 results, thanks to an unlikely hero: Grimace, a McDonaldland character from the ’70s. The global fast-food chain reported an 11.7% increase in comparable sales across the globe, with all US and international segments experiencing double-digit growth.
The Grimace was brought back into the spotlight during a birthday shake campaign this quarter. The campaign caught fire on TikTok, with Grimace-related content racking up over 3 billion views. The Grimace Shake trend, an organic viral phenomenon where users pretended to die after drinking the shake, also likely contributed to the increased visibility and engagement.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski attributed the remarkable quarter to the Grimace campaign. “We took the nostalgic experience of celebrating birthdays at McDonald’s and repackaged it for a new generation,” said CFO Ian Borden. “It quickly became one of our most socially engaging campaigns of all time, with millions of reactions on our social media posts.”
In a further nod to nostalgia, McDonald’s revealed plans to open a spin-off restaurant, CosMc’s. Named after a McDonaldland alien from the ’80s, the restaurant is promised to have “all the DNA of McDonald’s but its own unique personality,” said Kempczinski. More details about CosMc’s will be released by year-end, and new restaurants are scheduled to open in early 2024 in select locations.
