Brand metrics were showing an alarming lack of engagement among Gen Z in Finland. This was also visible in decreased job applications from the age group that is the most important for fast-food restaurants. New employees were needed with new restaurants opening and to maintain the customer and brand experience as the market leader (rising to the position in recent years above local competition).

Gen Z are infamously elusive as consumers and employees, so to engage with them on a new level had to be done on their terms: in channels they spend their time on and in a way that didn’t feel intrusively like advertising or recruitment. It was time to start building a long-term relationship with Gen Z, starting with getting more of them to work at McDonald’s Finland.

How do you combine boosting employer image, creating something meaningful & cool and making your brand culturally relevant for Gen Z?

While also increasing brand affinity and engagement. In this case, we knew it was vital to break into popular culture and chose fashion as our arena.

We collaborated with a local up-and-coming fashion designer who the target group – Generation Z – could relate to. Someone McDonald’s could support on his way up. We didn’t want to ride on the fame of an established talent, we knew we wanted more depth than just another fashion collaboration.

The new fashion collection was upcycled from used McDonald’s workwear. And the fashion collection was only available to McDonald’s employees highlighted with the main message activation: Want the drop? Get the job! People applied in record-breaking numbers.

Data used as back-up to the strategy and execution was largely from McDonald’s Finland brand trackers, research into past campaigns – focusing on Gen Z response (or lack thereof) – and also consumer behaviour studies especially in regards of McDonald’s restaurants and media.

To fix the decreasing Gen Z engagement, McDrip exclusively focused on them, allowing us to concentrate fully on social. The fashion collaboration created something cool with a designer the targeted youth could both look up to and relate to – Jimi VAIN is the same age with a relatable background.

The media push was focused on McDonald’s Finland and VAIN own channels, feeding into influencers creating content organically. The content didn’t feel like advertising or recruitment and it worked together with the call to action “Want the drop? Get the job”. Getting international attention – from Drake no less –further accelerated the media buzz back in Finland.

Creating the fashion collection was the first step. Jimi VAIN was given creative freedom as the fashion expert, and he also got to play with the McDonald’s brand. It was crucial for the fashion to stand out and be desirable.

The launch fashion show at a McDonald’s in central Helsinki was live-streamed on TikTok with attending fashion influencers sharing McDrip on TikTok and Instagram Stories. From there, influencers organically shared content with content creatrors from VAIN’s entourage the most impactful with their clips including footage from a closed McDonald’s at night – these gathered millions of views and combined the VAIN aesthetic with the McDonald’s brand in a playful and unforced way that resonated with Gen Z.

Next, the job applications flooded in. Things snowballed, culminating in Drake posting a pic from his gig on Instagram with Lil Uzi Vert wearing the McDrip look.

McDonald’s Finland job applications grew by 63% with McDrip representing a record-breaking number.

Earned media reach was 228 million – equal to 40 times the Finnish population.

Earned media value was 11MEUR – over 700 times the media spend.

Lil Uzi Vert wearing McDrip during a Drake gig and Drake posting a pic on Instagram (136 million followers) was welcome attention. For the Finnish audience, McDrip breaking into global culture was exciting – it’s always newsworthy and rare for a small nation to get international attention on this scale.

For the targeted 16-24-year-old demographic:

Employer image +52%

Brand responsibility image +69%

“It’s a brand I trust” perception +65%

“Is a brand for someone like me” +30%

VAIN stats exploded after launch:

TikTok video views up +16,378% (38K to 6,1M)

Instagram accounts reached went up 782% (Oct to Nov 22) and a further 98% the following month (Nov to Dec 22).