McDonald’s launches new McCrispy burger and ad campaign starring the Kid Laroi

Can the Kid Laroi help McDonald’s new McCrispy chicken burger become as famous as the Big Mac?

McDonald’s new campaign and product for the McCrispy burger is fronted by Australian pop star, the Kid Laroi

McDonald’s has added a new chicken burger to its permanent menu and it is accompanied by an advertising campaign fronted by Australian singer-songwriter and rapper the Kid Laroi as part of the brand’s ambition to embed the business further into culture.

The new burger is called the McCrispy and forms part of the broader strategy of the business to be “customer-centric” and innovate through new products.

Australia is the latest market to receive the new menu item, which has already been rolled out in the US, UK, Sweden, France, Spain and Canada.

Consumer demand for chicken menu items is growing across the Australian market, and currently accounts for about 25 per cent of McDonald’s system sales.

McDonald’s Australia senior vice-president and chief customer officer Chris Brown told The Growth Agenda this insight prompted the launch. “We identified that there was a real opportunity to bring to the market an incredibly tasty and ‘craveable’ chicken burger that delivered exactly what (customers) wanted, which was a premium chicken burger, that is great quality, has that Macca’s flavour and taste, but also at a great price,” he said.

Senior vice president and chief customer officer, McDonald’s Australia, Chris Brown

Price is certainly top of mind among many Australians, amid rising cost-of-living pressures. McDonald’s product pricing is set at a store level, and this burger will fall at about $9.

The new product launch comes as the business embarks on significant growth plans on a number of fronts in the Australian market. In July, it revealed it would open100 new restaurants over the next three years.

Consumers also have more digital touchpoints through which to engage with the brand, including McDonald’s 18-month-old loyalty program. It is used by about two million customers a month via the brand’s mobile app.

More than 58 billion points and 14 million products have been redeemed through MyMacca’s Rewards over the past 12 months, which includes more than seven million McCafe coffees and one million large fries.

Mr Brown said that while the burger had been introduced to both restaurants and online delivery channels, attraction to the loyalty program was becoming more pronounced.

“That’s been a real seismic shift,” Mr Brown said. “And we expect that trend to continue.”

He also said it was McDonald’s ambition for the McCrispy to be as iconic as the Big Mac.

To kick-start its fame, advertising agency DDB Sydney was engaged to develop the campaign, which was aired on TV and radio channels, and appeared in outdoor, digital and cinema placements from last Wednesday. There are also influencer components to the campaign.

Enlisting long-time McDonald’s fan the Kid Laroi was a key part of this objective, according to DDB Group Australia chief creative officer Stephen de Wolf.

He said the opportunity to work on a permanent menu item was a rarity.

“When Macca’s launches a new product, it’s always a big thing,” he said. “But this was a little different. The McCrispy is going straight to the permanent menu, meaning Macca’s is really backing it. And when Macca’s backs something, it’s not half-hearted, it’s all in.

“So we knew from the start that the McCrispy was a big deal. We also know how much customers enjoy Macca’s existing iconic menu items, embracing them and making them part of culture.

Stephen de Wolf, DDB Group Australia chief creative officer

“We got to thinking. Since this product is headed straight to the permanent menu, the McCrispy must be Macca’s ‘next big thing’. We took that and, in a lighthearted way, explored what it means when something or someone makes it big in a way only Macca’s can.”

In a 60-second spot, the Kid Laroi introduces the new menu item: “Let me tell you about the new McCrispy – a serious chicken burger from Macca’s,” he says. “They reckon it’s going to be the next big thing.”

In a subtle nod to his own extraordinary rise to fame in recent years, he asks, “But how do you know when you’ve made it big?”

The commercial then goes on to show a series of classic fame-generating moments.

“It starts with everyone knowing your name,” the Kid Laroi says, before stopping for a photo with fans and a McCrispy burger.

He then lists followers, the imitators, the commercials, the paparazzi, collectable merch, book deals, TV shows, rhymes, cameos, and the collabs, all of which ladder up to the purported fame of the new burger.

The ad is peppered with striking visuals of the burger and catchy tunes.

“Yeah, they’ll be some haters,” he says. “But if you can make it through all that, you’ll be a legend.” The Kid Laroi wishes the burger luck in its rise to fame, and in a final scene with a mouthful of the McCrispy, he reconsiders. “Maybe you don’t need it,” he says.

The company says the new burger offers consumers a more premium chicken burger option.

It features local Australian ingredients, including crispy fried chicken breast, shredded iceberg and cos lettuce, a new sauce and soft glazed bun.

McDonald’s spends about $1bn on Australian produce every year, and uses 100 per cent Australian RSPCA-approved chicken for all of its chicken products, including the McCrispy.

Mr de Wolf added that there aren’t many brands that can be part of “culture” with the same ease of McDonald’s.

“More and more, we’re seeing Macca’s collabs and drops,” he said.

“We’ve seen Macca’s menu items in films and TV shows, we’ve seen people try to replicate them, celebrities are seen with them.

“We wanted to take those cultural intersections Macca’s is known for and show the world that we hope the McCrispy, our ‘next big thing’, will be embraced in the same way.”

Ultimately, it’s in the hands of consumers now – something that Mr Brown knows wields real power when it comes to making the product and campaign a success.

“Customers make things big,” he said.