McDonald’s Canada is indulging the obsessive way its customers eat one of its most popular and long-running menu items.
The QSR recently asked customers on social to share their “nuggetiquette”: the specific, almost ritualistic way they eat their McNuggets. The QSR brought several of these to life (such as eating them according to shape, or turning them into a sandwich with dipping sauce) in stylized, almost Wes Anderson-inspired scenes, featuring drill sergeants and strict grandmothers teaching proper manners. The spots were also voiced by the same social media users who suggested the ideas.
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The spots all end with the idea that there is no “right way” to eat McNuggets, just “your” way.
McDonald’s worked with Cossette on the campaign, which is living in TV, social and radio. The QSR is continuing to ask consumers to share their “nuggetiquette,” which may be used in future executions of the campaign.
Simon Clancy, group creative director at Cossette, says the goal of the campaign was to “reignite the passion” that many consumers already have for McNuggets.
“This is a product that’s been around for a long time so people have an emotional connection to it that often goes back to their youth,” he says. “We did a lot of social listening to understand the emotional relationship, and we discovered people have quite specific ways in which they eat their nuggets. Some of them get pretty intense, they’re almost ritualistic.”
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The “constructed world” that the spots take place in is meant to feel very symmetrical and detail-focused, says Clancy, reflecting the degree of precision and consistency required when it comes to sticking to the nugget-eating rules.
However, “following the rules” isn’t exactly fun and exciting, which is especially important in a campaign for a product many consumers link to their childhood. Luckily, Clancy says, McNuggets are the kind of product that have fun built-in.
“Getting a lecture from your grandmother or being woken up by a drill sergeant isn’t anyone’s idea of fun,” he says. “But we’re creating a tension that’s fun to explore, because at the end of the day, we’re talking about something like McNuggets.”
