During a nationwide labour shortage and the toughest employers’ market in over 50 years, McDonald’s Australia needed to recruit 14,000 new crew members in just four months AND overcome young Aussies’ negative perceptions of what it means to be working at “Macca’s”.

In a nutshell, in an impossible job market our brief was to help McDonald’s recruit a record number of young Aussies… for a job they didn’t want.

At the end of the day, it’s not about where you work or even what you do there – it’s who you work with. And no other workplace is better proof of this simple truth than McDonald’s. So we distilled years of crew data, research, stories and traditions into a simple, undeniably Australian idea: ‘‘Mates make it Macca’s’. This idea redefined working at McDonald’s, from a place of flipping burgers and serving fries, to a place where you can come as you are, to work, laugh, learn, banter, fail, win and grow, with your mates.

The original focus was 18-29-year-olds. However, after analysis we identified that 66% of existing Macca’s staff were 14-17. This helped reframe the brief & provided greater focus on audience targeting. Whilst we needed to engage all audiences, we had to make sure the focus was on younger Australians.

Employee satisfaction research conducted by McDonald’s uncovered an interesting insight; of staff members who said they were happy at work, 92% said it was because they worked with a great team.

This insight also tapped into a broader cultural truth: Covid had a massive negative impact on young Australians ability to socialise and by 2022, they were hungry for human connection. This represented a huge opportunity to reposition working at McDonald’s, from just earning a salary and ‘joining a team’, to a place for genuine social connection and mateship.

The campaign brought to life countless moments of crew mateship, all inspired by genuine stories and insights from current Macca’s employees. From their morning routines and inside jokes, to their lunchtime menu hacks and daily banter.

Using the simple Australian expression “mate” in its many colloquial forms, we found a way to express hundreds of moment across film, OOH, TikTok, Snap, meta & in-restaurant media, each execution bespoke for channel and directly targeted at specific audiences, like career-changers, new-starters, night-owls and uni-graduates. All leading to a gamified application based on Macca’s legendary Burger Wrap Challenge, to fast track hires.

In the 36 weeks prior to the campaign, Macca’s had seen a continuing decline in applications and hires, which saw no sign of stopping. The campaign not only stopped this damaging trend in applications, but actually reversed it.

‘Mates make it Macca’s exceeded all expectations. At the height of the campaign, McDonald’s Australia were receiving 9,700 applicants per week, a 250% increase in applications vs target, with a 21% increase in conversions.

Macca’s had publicly stated that by the end of 2022 they needed to hire 14,150 new staff to meet consumer demand in 1023 restaurants nationwide. Thanks to the campaign, by the end of the year, 26,311 new mates had been hired, 86% over target in just over four months.

In Australia, a 'mate' is more than just a friend. It implies a sense of shared experience, mutual respect and unconditional assistance.

The word has many uses & nuances in how it’s applied in everyday Aussie speech, from straightforward “Morning mate” (good morning) or congratulatory “Mate!” (well done), to the disappointment of “Aww mate.. ”(oh no!) or jokingly saying “He’s your mate…” (he’s definitely not my mate…).