McDonald's targets Gen Z with anime-themed campaign for Studio Pierrot collab

The brand is launching a mini anime series, a dedicated menu, as well as special edition packaging as part of the global campaign.

McDonald's is bringing out a Manga and anime-based menu and four short anime episodes that will be streamed on a special website across 30 countries. The new campaign heroes the concept of ‘WcDonald’s’ and the upside-down McDonald's logo whenever the fast-food chain is referenced in anime shows.

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Starting February 26, anime fans will be able to order items like Savory Chili WcDonald’s sauce and 10-piece “WcNuggets.” The packaging of the menu is specially designed by Acky Bright, a manga artist and former illustrator for DC Comics.

The campaign conceptualised by Wieden+Kennedy has further designed manga characters like ‘Bright’, ‘Hashirune’, and ‘Mr. Bev’ all of whom can be accessed via a QR code provided on the special packaging.

The brand has further collaborated with Studio Pierrot, the Japanese animation house behind popular anime shows like ‘Naruto’, ‘Bleach’, and ‘Bismark’ for a four-episode mini-series. The episodes will debut every Monday from Feb. 26 until March 18. Anime fans can access them by scanning codes on the packaging or visiting WcDonalds.com. According to reports, these episodes will also double as commercials for the brand.

Anime has grown to be an extremely popular genre, especially among Gen Z. According to a study by WordFinder, almost 69% of Gen Z consume Anime content followed by Gen X and boomers. Shows like ‘Naruto’, ‘Death Note’, and ‘Demon Slayer’ have a cult-like following among audiences. Netflix back in 2021 had also announced that more than half of its subscribers had watched anime content on its platform.

Several brands have tried eyeing the genre on the back of its popularity in the past. For example, Ikea recently launched a slice of life series on TikTok highlighting how Ikea can help eliminate college stress by helping students organise and declutter their lives.

Similarly, Coca-Cola launched a special edition of a Bleach-themed take on Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.

Language learning app Duolingo also partnered with Crunchyroll, an OTT anime platform to include famous anime phrases as part of Duolingo’s Japanese lessons.

This is not the first time that McDonald's has designed campaigns around anime. In 2023, the brand partnered with Webtoon, a platform for Korean digital comics to create a pop-up restaurant at the Los Angeles Anime Expo.

McDonald's and ‘Menus’

It all started back in 1991 when the brand introduced the ‘McJordan’ meal in honour of the basketball legend ‘Micheal Jordan’. Since then, celebrity and limited edition menus have been an on-and-off marketing strategy for the brand.

However, in 2021, the brand launched ‘BTS Meal’ as a part of its collaboration with the sensational South Korean boy band. It had also launched  ‘BTSXMcDonald's’ merchandise. The success of the collaboration was a global phenomenon and since then, the fast food giant has introduced almost six celebrity menus like, ‘The Saweetie Meal’, ‘The Cardi B and Offset Meal’, ‘The J Balvin Meal’ and ‘The Mariah Carey Menu’ all of which have been successful. In India, the brand had recently launched a ‘Kartik Aryan’ meal.

The McDonald's celebrity and limited edition meals from the past few years have been quite successful. The launch of these menus is usually followed up by a large-scale influencer campaigns to drive sales.