McDonald’s X Stormzy Demonstrate the Multiplier Effect

Too often we see “brand” and “performance” marketing treated as natural enemies, when the truth is that these elements of marketing work together to build and sustain a brand. Whatever the theorists say, the day-to-day life of a consumer facing brand includes a lot of direct, sales-based marketing. But at its best that work also elevates and grows the brand. And brand-building ads should also activate the people ready to buy your brand in the moment.

A brand like McDonald’s – whose latest work with grime superstar Stormzy is our Ad Of The Week – shows how this works in practice. McDonald’s has become part of our culture, a reliable presence with millions of regular customers: its products and distinctive assets make it one of the most recognised global brands, and brand advertising helps keep it that way.

At the same time, McDonald’s product range is always changing, with promotions and limited-edition meals carefully planned, and performance marketing plays a crucial role in keeping these changes top-of-mind, giving customers new reasons every month to visit a restaurant. This February in the UK it was the turn of the Stormzy Meal, part of McDonald’s “Famous Orders” initiative where celebrity customers recreate their own favourite McDonald’s meals, and for a limited time the public gets to buy them too.

The rapper’s choice is a 9 McNuggets meal, fries, a McFlurry and a Sprite, and the ad launching the offer takes a wonderfully literal approach to the idea that everyone will be ordering like Stormzy. From old ladies to young girls, everyone in the ad starts speaking with Stormzy’s deep voice and London accent. It’s a surreal and hilarious effect. At the end of the ad, the tables are turned, and Stormzy starts talking in Alison Steadman’s voice. It’s her favourite Maccies meal too.

It’s an ad that takes the techniques of effective brand-building – like humour and cultural references – and applies them to the kind of short-term promotional activity that performance marketing is based on. At System1 we call this combination “the Multiplier Effect”, when the two kinds of advertising intersect to bring the best out in each other. (If you want to read our latest report on the topic, with WARC, you can get yourself a copy here.)

The ad galvanised the audience in our Test Your Ad platform, with a stellar performance on our short-term metrics. It won an exceptional Spike score in the highly competitive fast food category, predicting very strong short-term sales gains. It was also highly recognisable, with exceptional Brand Fluency. In combination with strong brand-focused work it’s an ad that’s well placed to benefit from the Multiplier Effect.

And when you think about it, the Famous Orders concept is a perfect example of the multiplier effect in action. It’s a short-term, social-media-oriented, buzzy idea but one that would be impossible to execute if McDonald’s wasn’t such a strong brand already. It’s only when a brand is so deeply rooted and familiar that the concept of celebrities having favourite meals starts to make any sense. This is an exceptional Performance driving ad – but it couldn’t happen without Brand.