Jennifer Healan’s Post

This week, McDonald's closed out Grimace’s birthday month with a little help from his friends at the Empire State Building. Loved seeing all the New York Mets fandom as #GrimaceEffect was in full swing. Congrats Amanda Mulligan, Chelsia Lai, Liz Fernandez Shaughnessy, Wieden + Kennedy New York Bodega Team and Golin for capturing “lightning in a bottle.” It was truly a moment in time to remember and celebrate. https://lnkd.in/gvssWF22

The highest honor of effectiveness, three years in a row… That’s something to raise a glass to. Creative storytelling that drives the business time and time again. Our Agency Partners consistently bring ideas that challenge us, and we’ve made it a central part of our creative process to not only champion ideas but also build upon those ideas with “YES, and…” That leads to work that shapes culture and moves our business. Congratulations to all our colleagues at McDonald's for the third consecutive year as the Effie Worldwide Most Effective Brand. I love doing this work with you. A special shout out to celebrate our US EFFIEs this year: BRAND OF THE YEAR 2 Golds for Cactus Plant Flea Market 3 Silvers: Grimace’s Birthday (2), Cactus Plant Flea Market (1) 1 Bronze for HACER 1 Finalist for Spotlight Dorado Creative effectiveness and excellence hard at work. Cheers to the US Marketing Team and all our Agency Partners. You made this happen.

One of the first fan truths we heard when we adopted our fan-to-fan strategy was "McDonald’s is the place where grandparents become superheroes." Grandma lets you break the rules— like eating your dessert first. She has also been there for us in so many moments. So we're launching an idea that celebrates that special bond and honors that special person in our lives complete with a Grandma McFlurry, a funky soul remix of the classic "How Sweet It Is" by Remi Wolf and a re-make of the iconic song, “Piel Canela," by Jay Wheeler, a Grandma-inspired merch collection with KnitWrth, new packaging, social content, an Ice Cream Truck making the rounds to senior centers, and a beautiful film showcasing real grandmas with their grandkids enjoying a sweet treat. The idea also taps into the Gen Z trend — living in your ‘Grandma Era’ — and celebrates indulging in life's little pleasures, just as Grandma would. This one is a timeless truth, with a timely execution. And we love it. Congrats to the McDonald's Team and all of our Agency partners for another culture-driving idea, beautifully executed.

I had the privilege of sharing the stage with Kaylah Burton and Bianca Bradford at the Meta/IAB NewFronts, where we shared a bit of the strategy behind McDonald's social playbook. Social platforms, like Meta, have played such a crucial role in our marketing story— enabling us to reflect the truths of the fan experience the way a fan would. Thanks to #Meta for having us. It was an incredible show. #IABNewFronts #Reels

Extremely proud of McDonald's showing at the Ad Age gala. Grimace’s Birthday, and the team behind that viral #GrimaceShake phenomenon, were finalists in multiple categories, including Idea of the Year, Creatives of the Year, and we ultimately won Best Product Launch of the Year. That’s two years in a row for that category — first, The Cactus Plant Flea Market Box/Adult Happy Meal, and now the Grimace Shake. Couldn’t be more thrilled that our brand’s creativity continues to show up on canvases in innovative ways time and time again. Also, major CONGRATS are in order for Tariq H. for his recognition as CMO of the Year. This Inter-Agency Team and US Marketing Team continue to blow us away. Feeling thankful everyday to work with the most creative, hardworking marketers in the biz. #AdAgeAList

Loved speaking at the Chicago Digital Summit this week. During my talk, I shared a few things we’ve learned about creative storytelling at McDonald's on digital platforms that might be helpful to some of you: 1)Fandom fuels everything we do.  And with social platforms making fans’ love so visible and tangible, do everything you can to lean into it. 2)Plant the right creative ingredients in the digital world and fans will take them and make them their own. 3)Once you find your voice in that space, get out of your own way. 4)Learn to take inspiration from the digital world and bring it into the physical world. Our recent WcDonald’s anime effort is a prime example of this approach. And perhaps the most important tenet that’s central to all the work we do: instead of asking “will this work,” ask yourself instead IS IT TRUE? Thanks for having me, #digitalsummit Chicago!

Excited to be a keynote speaker tomorrow (April 4th) at the Digital Summit Chicago! Join me and other industry creatives, leaders, and marketers for conversations about the future of creativity and innovation. Hope to see you there!

One of the most special things about putting creativity out into the world is seeing how our fans serve it back to us. For WcDonald's, we’re simply building on a world they’ve already created. As we close out the campaign, I wanted to give a BIG thanks to all of our partners and our entire McDonald's team who helped bring WcDonald’s from the anime world into our physical world. This was truly a special one. You can see all four weeks of our anime shorts here, created with Studio Pierrot and Acky Bright. #wcdonalds #anime Week one: https://lnkd.in/gXwDe_Zn Week two: https://lnkd.in/gwMH4XwC Week three: https://lnkd.in/gBF-PZ47 Week four: https://lnkd.in/gRZKASb6

This week, we’re excited to announce the launch of WcDonald’s, inspired by our fans’ interpretation of McDonald’s in the anime world. You’ll see this idea come to life across so many corners of our business: from the manga on our packaging and register receipt tape to the introduction of the new Savory Chili WcDonald’s sauce, the creation of four episodic shorts, the design of our crew tees and the overall restaurant experience. We even turned the arches upside down. It’s the ultimate expression of sharing the pen and seeing our brand through our fans’ eyes. Thanks to our incredible team and all of our partners who’ve worked tirelessly to bring this idea to life in the most authentic way. We hope it’s something the anime community is proud of, and those new to anime are excited to explore. Read more about it here: