Grimace with a tray of food McDonald's food on his head
Photo: McDonald’s

The #GrimaceShake hashtag has amassed over 2.7 billion views on TikTok since June 12 when McDonald’s released a special-edition berry-flavored shake. However, Guillaume Huin, McDonald’s social media director, said the viral breakout wasn’t planned and the fast-food chain was even conflicted on whether to respond to the trend.

McDonald’s most likely didn’t plan its Grimace Birthday Meal campaign to go viral because the TikTok trend involves videos where people drink the shake and then pretend to be killed, passed out, or possessed while covered in the drink.

In hindsight, the satirical-horror theme was seen as inspired by the strange purplish color of the shake. The campaign also celebrated the 52nd birthday of Grimace, the happy-go-lucky yet amorphous and “most mysterious” blob-like mascot.

A single TikTok video posted on June 13 inspired thousands of others to come up with better versions. The Los Angeles Times wrote, “While the TikToks vary in production value, some are incredibly cinematic, using drone shots, CGI and DIY Grimace costumes.”

Despite the grisly theme, Mr. Huin was ecstatic that the campaign generated “billions in reach, millions in engagements, millions of mentions” online and was a top trend on Twitter, TikTok, and Snapchat for several days.

Yet McDonald’s then faced “immense doubt” over whether to join others in participating in the viral campaign. Encouraging the trend would come off as self-serving, but completely ignoring it might make McDonald’s look disconnected from the video creators and fans.

Mr. Huin said, “The campaign was already wildly successful, both on a social and business standpoint, so why would we take the ‘risk’ to jump in? But hours of watching, reading the comments, trying to learn and genuinely understand helped us see what this was about: brilliant creativity, unfiltered fun, peak absurdist Gen Z humor, just the way a new generation of creators and consumers play with brands.”McDonald’s acknowledged the viral campaign on June 27, jokingly tweeting a picture of Grimace captioned: “meee pretending i don’t see the Grimace shake trendd.” Mr. Huin said in the LinkedIn post, “We just decided to show our fans that we see them and their creativity in a sweet, candid and genuine way, as Grimace would.”

BrainTrust

“I think the big insight to a company that wants to repeat this success is don’t try. The key here is creativity and spontaneity. Afterall, they don’t have to go through legal.”

Gene Detroyer

Professor, International Business, Guizhou University of Finance & Economics and University of Sanya, China.


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What caused the Grimace Birthday Meal campaign to go viral, and was McDonald’s wise to acknowledge but not stir the viral take-off? What insights does the viral reaction offer about connecting with younger creators and consumers?

Poll

What grade would you give for how McDonald’s management responded to the viral take-off of the Grimace Birthday Meal campaign?

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12 responses to “Should McDonald’s Have Joined the ‘Grimace Shake’ TikTok Trend?”

  1. Gene Detroyer Avatar
    Gene Detroyer

    Hmmm! There are a lot of people out there having fun.

    Sure, McDonald’s acknowledges this. You don’t have to do more. The kids are doing it all and doing it better than you ever could.

    I think the big insight to a company that wants to repeat this success is don’t try. The key here is creativity and spontaneity. Afterall, they don’t have to go through legal.

  2. Neil Saunders Avatar
    Neil Saunders

    The shake is an unusual color and Grimace, while perfectly harmless, can look kind of menacing. People jumped on that to make a playful videos about the shakes having a bad effect. McDonald’s probably didn’t know what to make of this but I think they did the right thing: stand back and let it run. A corporate stepping in and trying to capitalize on a viral trend can work, but it can also backfire. So best watch on with amusement and respect.

    1. Georganne Bender Avatar
      Georganne Bender

      You are probably too young to remember that Grimace was introduced as the “Evil Grimace” in the 70s. Poor Grimace!

      1. Richard Hernandez Avatar
        Richard Hernandez

        Yes ! The Hamburgler and the Evil Grimmace!!!!
        I think they handled it well- not doing anything would have been a lost business opportunity.

  3. Georganne Bender Avatar
    Georganne Bender

    Why would McDonald’s acknowledge a trend that celebrated people dying from drinking Grimace milkshakes? Acknowledgment beyond what they did could have gone very wrong. I think McDonald’s handled it perfectly well.

  4. Melissa Minkow Avatar
    Melissa Minkow

    There are many times it’s gratuitous and unnecessary for brands to hop on a trend. When the trend is specific to a brand’s product or mascot, the brand absolutely should jump in. This is a great example of conducting heavy social listening and fully understanding the nuances surrounding how an item/brand is discussed on social.

  5. Lisa Goller Avatar
    Lisa Goller

    The TikTokification of brand marketing resurrected our beloved Grimace for a new generation. McDonald’s was wise to play along yet let user-generated content drive this tasty trend.

    The power of TikTok trends drives rabid engagement among Gen Zs. They want to promptly pounce on the social online fun.

    My only beef: the McDonald’s drive-thru lady had no idea what I was talking about, as Grimace shakes are only available in the U.S. (not Canada).

  6. Jeff Sward Avatar
    Jeff Sward

    Really? There was some doubt about jumping into this at the corporate level? And the creativity was “sweet”…? I get that it was rogue and playful and tongue in cheek, but it would have been insane to piggyback on this in any way from the corporate level. Insane. Now let’s see what the next round of one-upmanship brings.

  7. Shep Hyken Avatar
    Shep Hyken

    If a customer(s) tweets, Instagrams, TikToks, etc., join the conversation and the fun. Respond, re-post, share, etc. That’s why they call it social media. But what if the posts are negative or controversial? It’s probably best to stay away, but someone will ask, so they should be prepared to answer. However, there seemed to be very positive and fun posts. Interacting with those is important. A brand needs to be seen as approachable, even if it is on the Internet.

  8. Michael Zakkour Avatar
    Michael Zakkour

    They handled it it just right. Acknowledge it with a wink and let it go. This is exactly the type of UGC most brands would die for. It sold more shakes, it sold more food, increased store traffic and created billions of free impressions.

  9. Craig Sundstrom Avatar
    Craig Sundstrom

    This is largely a numbers issue: McDonald’s is the largest restaurant company in the world, serving tens – hundreds? – of millions every week; so it’s hardly remarkable something connected with them ‘goes viral’. Why this particular “thing” did, more than others …well who knows? It sounds like they realized this was a fad – and a very momentary one – smiled, and moved on without much fuss or overthinking. There’s a lot to be said for that. (Ahem)

  10. Patricia Vekich Waldron Avatar
    Patricia Vekich Waldron

    I think McD’s is smart not to engage, but to use all the user generated content (UGC) for learnings and insights into younger customers.

12 Comments
oldest
newest
Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
20 days ago

Hmmm! There are a lot of people out there having fun.

Sure, McDonald’s acknowledges this. You don’t have to do more. The kids are doing it all and doing it better than you ever could.

I think the big insight to a company that wants to repeat this success is don’t try. The key here is creativity and spontaneity. Afterall, they don’t have to go through legal.

Neil Saunders
Neil Saunders
20 days ago

The shake is an unusual color and Grimace, while perfectly harmless, can look kind of menacing. People jumped on that to make a playful videos about the shakes having a bad effect. McDonald’s probably didn’t know what to make of this but I think they did the right thing: stand back and let it run. A corporate stepping in and trying to capitalize on a viral trend can work, but it can also backfire. So best watch on with amusement and respect.

Georganne Bender
Georganne Bender
  Neil Saunders
20 days ago

You are probably too young to remember that Grimace was introduced as the “Evil Grimace” in the 70s. Poor Grimace!

Richard Hernandez
Richard Hernandez
  Georganne Bender
20 days ago

Yes ! The Hamburgler and the Evil Grimmace!!!!
I think they handled it well- not doing anything would have been a lost business opportunity.

Georganne Bender
Georganne Bender
20 days ago

Why would McDonald’s acknowledge a trend that celebrated people dying from drinking Grimace milkshakes? Acknowledgment beyond what they did could have gone very wrong. I think McDonald’s handled it perfectly well.

Melissa Minkow
Melissa Minkow
20 days ago

There are many times it’s gratuitous and unnecessary for brands to hop on a trend. When the trend is specific to a brand’s product or mascot, the brand absolutely should jump in. This is a great example of conducting heavy social listening and fully understanding the nuances surrounding how an item/brand is discussed on social.

Lisa Goller
Lisa Goller
20 days ago

The TikTokification of brand marketing resurrected our beloved Grimace for a new generation. McDonald’s was wise to play along yet let user-generated content drive this tasty trend.

The power of TikTok trends drives rabid engagement among Gen Zs. They want to promptly pounce on the social online fun.

My only beef: the McDonald’s drive-thru lady had no idea what I was talking about, as Grimace shakes are only available in the U.S. (not Canada).

Jeff Sward
Jeff Sward
20 days ago

Really? There was some doubt about jumping into this at the corporate level? And the creativity was “sweet”…? I get that it was rogue and playful and tongue in cheek, but it would have been insane to piggyback on this in any way from the corporate level. Insane. Now let’s see what the next round of one-upmanship brings.

Shep Hyken
Shep Hyken
20 days ago

If a customer(s) tweets, Instagrams, TikToks, etc., join the conversation and the fun. Respond, re-post, share, etc. That’s why they call it social media. But what if the posts are negative or controversial? It’s probably best to stay away, but someone will ask, so they should be prepared to answer. However, there seemed to be very positive and fun posts. Interacting with those is important. A brand needs to be seen as approachable, even if it is on the Internet.

Michael Zakkour
Michael Zakkour
20 days ago

They handled it it just right. Acknowledge it with a wink and let it go. This is exactly the type of UGC most brands would die for. It sold more shakes, it sold more food, increased store traffic and created billions of free impressions.

Craig Sundstrom
Craig Sundstrom
20 days ago

This is largely a numbers issue: McDonald’s is the largest restaurant company in the world, serving tens – hundreds? – of millions every week; so it’s hardly remarkable something connected with them ‘goes viral’. Why this particular “thing” did, more than others …well who knows? It sounds like they realized this was a fad – and a very momentary one – smiled, and moved on without much fuss or overthinking. There’s a lot to be said for that. (Ahem)

Patricia Vekich Waldron
Patricia Vekich Waldron
20 days ago

I think McD’s is smart not to engage, but to use all the user generated content (UGC) for learnings and insights into younger customers.