Japan is a country where fans' derivative works are very active, as evidenced by the Comic Market (the world's largest comic book convention).

In addition to manga, there are many creative, organic social posts as fan art and music under headings like "I tried singing," "I tried dancing," and "I tried playing." So for this project, as part of our activation, we provided the song, well-developed, unique 3D characters, a dance game, and a sound sample that could easily be used for such derivative works.

For Gen-Z, McDonald's had been around since they were born and had become such an iconic, familiar brand they took for granted.It was time for McDonald's brand perception to be transformed into something special for them.

McDonald's had to become a brand that Gen-Z chose because they loved it, not because it was close or a lower-priced option.

The key to connecting Gen-Z to MacDonald's was the ""Fry-station alarm sound"" that has been used in McDonald's restaurants for many years. A sound that boasts 82% awareness among the Japanese, commonly known as the McFries Alarm.

We elevated the alarm sound to the musical content to send Gen-Z into a frenzy. First, we released a music video mashing up popular youth songs and alarm sounds, and also developed it into a music game on TikTok.

Furthermore, when the alarm sound was released as an official free sample for the first time ever, various derivative works were shared. McDonald’s created a social networking movement with the music featuring the unmistakable alarm sound.

By combining a sound familiar to all Japanese with some songs by popular artists with two different fan bases, the goal was to create a buzz among the target Gen-Z audience.

This mashup created "a song that everyone knows the sound of, but no one has heard before," and from there expanded the actions to various touch points.

Mashing up the two songs (Ado “Odo” – 190M plays on YouTube, asmi “PAKU” – 3B plays on TikTok) and the McFries Alarm which became extremely popular among Japanese youth. It was also released as a music video.

Original game on TikTok combines dance and music.

The alarm sound was released as an official free sample for the first time ever. Everyone was immersed in creating their own original songs. A string of brand-new songs was created.

The music video, with its overwhelmingly unique and iconic appeal, together with the official release of the alarm sound as a free sample, stimulated the creativity of Gen-Z big time!

A string of brand-new songs was created from the McFries Alarm, and the organic videos created by the young people went viral.

Impressions | 100 million

Derivative works | 1,500＋

Sales UP | 269%（Gen-Z’s hot spot in Tokyo)