McDonald’s employs 85,000 people in Canada, and 74% of those are under 25.

Supply (in this case, available jobs) tends to exceed demand (applicants), so communications play a key role in bringing new candidates into the business and keeping the restaurants operating at full capacity (primarily targeting those aged 16-24).

Historically the approach to recruitment advertising had followed the conventional cues and codes of the category; portraying the positive reality of what working at McDonald’s involves.

And to its credit, it delivered a workmanlike performance; generating solid, if not spectacular levels of success.

So when the 2019 brief landed, the ingoing hypothesis at McDonald’s was a case of if it ain’t broke, don't fix it.

When we recommended flipping the hiring process on its head, we knew it would live or die based on our ability to operationalize the idea.

But a collective ambition from agency and client, some brilliantly crafted creative and a couple of flashes of ingenuity, we managed to entirely reimagine the hiring process.

Friends Wanted became our new rallying cry for recruiting youth and we built a truly 360 campaign around it.

We built playful and fun films that showcased the harmless hijinks friends get up to working together in a typical McDonald’s kitchen.

Collectively with McDonald's we also worked to update the application process, including IT systems, the physical interview process and held virtual hiring fairs on Snapchat (Snapplications) to bring the strategy to bear across all touchpoints.

Until recently, taking on a casual job that involved some unglamorous hard work was a rite of passage.

Fast-forward to now and this rite of passage is disappearing for Gen Z, with prioritization shifting to gaining the right kind of work experience (ie prestigious internships).

Yet with this shift, the formative experience of camaraderie is being eroded from their lives.

Little wonder then they're consistently identified as the loneliest and most stressed-out generation...

We saw an opportunity to frame a job at McDonald’s as providing the camaraderie that Gen Z are so desperately yearning for.

But rather than make ads telling a skeptical, stressed out generation that they’ll definitely get on with their local restaurant crew...

Strategy recommended making a fundamental change to the business.

Flipping the entire recruitment process on its head.

And encouraging people to apply together.