Pickle It Forward

In today's world, you don't just build brand affinity by campaigns that just broadcast messages. You need campaigns and content that join cultural conversations in ways that are relevant to your brand and that resonate with people.

As McDonald's set out to build brand affinity in Denmark and across the Nordic markets, we social-listened and spotted one lighthearted debate: pickles. A humble green slice turned cultural phenomenon with over 250 million pieces of pickle content on TikTok by the end of 2024. But pickles come with a built-in divide. You either love them or you hate them. The same love-hate split that plays out on our Big Mac and Quarter Pounder every single day.

So, while everyone else picked a side, we celebrated the opposite of division: bringing people together. Not just with a story, but with a campaign idea that was a real solution: "Pickle It Forward". Haters deposit their unwanted pickles into a digital pickle bank. Lovers pick them for free. The most divisive item on our menu turned into an act of generosity. Proof that even the most divisive ingredient can unite people at McDonald's.

We launched our campaign content straight into the pickle debate on social. With weird pickle dancing videos. With influencer couples of one lover and one hater. With polls on the perfect amount of pickles. With loyalty-point pickle merch. And with sales data that revealed the Nordics' biggest pickle-loving and pickle-hating cities, for a little localpride.

And joining the conversation paid off on every front:
Nearly 59 million pickles added in the Nordics, that's more than 2 pickles per person. Social engagement went beyond benchmarks, up to +380% on TikTok. Brand affinity climbed, with "a brand for someone like me" up +8% in Denmark. And as an additional bonus, our iconic pickle-packed burgers got more popular in Denmark too: Big Mac +13% and Quarter Pounder +21% units per thousand transactions.

All to prove one thing: team pickle or not, everyone's welcome at McDonald's.

Challenge:

McDonald's, probably everyone knows the brand and plenty of people visit us. But we were facing a challenge: many people visit us, but far fewer have a positive opinion of us. We knew this wouldn't be fixed by a single campaign broadcasting a brand-building message. As a culturally iconic brand, McDonald’s has a responsibility to keep earning that status. Which means to shift from advertising towards people to joining the conversations they already were into. Because if people felt we genuinely cared about what mattered to them, they'd start caring more about us once again. Therefore, we needed to find a relevant cultural conversation and join it in a way that felt native and participatory, not like a big brand crashing the party. And turn that cultural relevance into more affinity for the brand.

In concrete terms, that meant two marketing objectives for our campaign:

1. Drive social engagement above benchmarks through social-first activations of our campaign
2. Lift "A brand for someone like me" brand image score

Audience Insights:

We can all see and hear how much people disagree these days on almost anything. But as a feel-good brand, McDonald’s spotted a very lighthearted debate in all that noise that was taking over the internet: pickles. The humble green slice had taken over social media, and everything pickled was having a moment: snacks, drinks, recipes, you name it. Even Dua Lipa and Ice Spice got in on it, posting their own pickle moments online.

But pickles come with a built-in divide. You're either a pickle lover or pickle hater. It's a love-hate relationship that also plays out in McDonald's restaurants every day, on our most famous burgers from the Big Mac® to the Quarter Pounder®. People either eat pickles with joy or throw 'em away. But at McDonald's, you're always welcome. Whether you're team pickle or not.

The audience insight gave us everything we needed to define a clear strategy to join that cultural conversation the McDonald’s way: Show that even the most divisive ingredient can unite people at McDonald’s. Because as everyone, globally, in the Nordics and Denmark was picking a side, McDonald's saw a chance to pour some cooling pickle juice over the fiery feud. To tell our side of the story. With a solution that celebrates the opposite of division: Bringing people together.

Our idea: “Pickle it forward” - solving the pickle problem with a digital pickle bank that connects lovers and haters. We turned the most divisive item on the McDonald's menu into an unexpected act of generosity. Pickle haters simply remove pickles from their digital order and deposit them into the pickle bank. Pickle lovers could now pick pickles from the pickle bank for free. It asks almost nothing of our guests, while getting them to use mobile order and limit pickle waste. An idea that turned a simple act of customization into a shared moment of connection. Thus, proving that McDonald’s is a place for everyone. Whether you’re team pickle or not, you’re welcome at McDonald’s.

McDonald’s brought the campaign to the place where the debate was already raging - social media. We launched with content that placed McDonald’s within the pickle debate, but with no reference to the activation. Tapping into trends like “he’s a 10, but he loves pickles”, “when someone asks me”, and did weird dancing videos with pickles. Then we introduced the concept of “Pickle it forward”. Got influencers involved - mainly couples consisting of a lover and a hater. Created polls and questions on the perfect amount of pickles. Launched merch that people got with loyalty points. Used sales data to find the biggest pickle hating and loving cities in the Nordics and shared the data for some local pride and frustration. And of course asked people to start adding or removing pickles from the pickle bank when ordering digitally, as well as activated the McDonald’s app itself.

We joined the Pickle conversation and broke social engagement benchmarks across the Nordics.

TikTok:
Average engagement: +50% compared to TikTok average
Highest engagement: +380% compared to TikTok average
VTR: 100% over McDonald’s benchmark

Meta:
Average engagement: +108% compared to Meta average
Highest engagement: +233% compared to Meta average
VTR: 1576% over McDonald’s benchmark

We turned the engagement on social into more affinity for the brand.

In the Nordics:
+5% “Is a brand for someone like me”
+5% “Is a modern brand”
(R3M, Feb 26 vs. Nov 25)

In Denmark:
+8% “Is a brand for someone like me”
(R3M, Mar 26 vs. Dec 25)

We strengthened the brand for the long-term while spiking business results in the short.

Close to 59 million pickles added, well 58,976,146 pickles to be exact, added to digital orders. That’s more than 2 pickles per person in the Nordics. Even though selling more of our famous pickle-packed burgers like the Big Mac® or the Quarter Pounder® and getting more people to try Mobile Ordering in our app wasn't the main goal of this campaign, it happened naturally.

In the Nordics:
+10.4% more Big Mac® units sold per thousand transactions
+16.4% more Quarter Pounder® units sold per thousand transactions
(UPT data, Feb 26 vs. Feb 25)

+4% Ever used mobile order & pay
+6% Used mobile order & pay last month
(R3M, Feb 26 vs. Nov 25)

In Denmark:
+13% more Big Mac® units sold per thousand transactions
+21% more Quarter Pounder® units sold per thousand transactions
(UPT data, Feb 26 vs. Feb 25)

+10% Ever used mobile order & pay
+16% Used mobile order & pay last month
(R3M, Mar 26 vs. Dec 25)

Results that prove that sometimes the best campaign to get people to like your brand is to join a divisive debate and stand for the opposite: bringing people together. And show that a small pickle can drive big change for the brand and business. That’s a fact, whether you love it or hate it.