This is the story of a brief that could have easily been overlooked.

Especially considering the original kick off session included familiar favourites such as ’evolution, not revolution’, ‘light touch’ and ‘look at adapting assets’.

But the output of the 2019 McDonald’s employee recruitment brief turned out to be anything but familiar.

This is a case study in how creative strategy saw inclement weather on the horizon and built a radical solution that flipped the hiring process entirely on its head, driving a fundamental operational change to the business.

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.

Exploration of the broader context revealed there to be a heady mix of cultural clouds gathering on the horizon, making this year’s challenge unique:

1. 2019 saw youth unemployment in Canada reach an all-time low.

2. Ascendance of the Gig Economy; not only were there fewer candidates to go after, the world of work had evolved to offer more choice & flexibility.

3. The everlasting Myth of the ‘Dreaded McJob’. From the ignominy of entering the Oxford English Dictionary in the 1990’s, ‘McJob’ remains the default term for dead-end, low-paid, low-skill work.

So with Gen Z coming of age, a generation seemingly more interested in finding meaning and passion in everything they do than ever before, it was little surprise that the myth of the McJob & rise of more ‘modern’ employers would mean we’d need to find an entirely new way to frame McDonald’s as an attractive prospect.

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).

And 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...

Yet 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.

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.

‘Friends Wanted’ has been one of the most successful recruitment campaigns for McDonald's Canada ever.

Furthermore, we saw significant uplift scores across Ad Recall, Recommendation and Consideration with Facebook tracking stating the scores were “the highest we’ve ever seen, for any brand in Canada”.

Across August & September 2019, we saw a 95% increase YOY in visits to the career page.

And most importantly, this resulted in over 133,000 new applications, representing an impressive 16.3% increase YOY.