How does toy marketing empty the wallets of adults?

The newly-launched top-tier "MaiMai Walkie-Talkie" has set off a carnival in the "Maimen Universe", and consumers are happy to buy into the toy marketing. Why does this phenomenon occur? What impact will it have on the brand?

"This is Chicken McNuggets No. 1. Please reply."

"This is Chicken McNuggets No. 2. Please reply."

"I shouted today and two or three people in the community responded to me."

On Children's Day this year, the newly-launched "McMc Intercom" set off a carnival in the "McMc Universe". On May 22, McDonald's launched a new toy for children's meals - the McNuggets and French Fries Jam Machine, which is based on the classic products of McNuggets and French fries. It is limited to 500,000 sets sold nationwide, and you can get it by adding 38 yuan after ordering.

The toys were sold out in less than two hours after they went on sale. McDonald's app crashed and many stores were sold out. Scalpers speculated on the price and people bought them online, causing the second-hand price of the walkie-talkies to soar to an astonishing 300 yuan.

Why has the McNuggets French Fries Sauce Machine set off a buying frenzy on social platforms? What other fast food brands are doing toy marketing? What impact will this have on the brand?

1. "Children's Day" toys, hard control of adults

On Xiaohongshu, you can see many highly praised notes such as "Today's task: organize company colleagues to grab the Maimai walkie-talkie", "I didn't expect that the Maimai walkie-talkie could be heard across half the community", "Having a Maimai walkie-talkie is more convenient than a mobile phone", etc. Related works are emerging in an endless stream, which is enough to show the popularity of the McNuggets Chicken Fries Sauce Machine.

There are many reasons why the McMc Intercom has become popular. First of all, as McDonald's top products, Chicken McNuggets and French fries have always been very popular among consumers. Secondly, the Chicken McNuggets and French fries have a high appearance value, and the combination of red and yellow is very eye-catching, which is more photogenic when used for taking photos.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

The most important thing is that the Maimai walkie-talkie is not a single-line connection, but walkie-talkies within 300 meters can be interconnected. It has certain social attributes and creates the same emotional value for consumers. This is also the key to the walkie-talkie's ability to control adults.

The limited-edition release further boosted the popularity of the McNuggets French Fries Sauce Machine. It is understood that McDonald's initially only sold 500,000 copies, compared to KFC's Children's Day toys, which sold at least 3.93 million copies. McDonald's only added 200,000 copies after the walkie-talkie became a huge hit.

In fact, it is not just McDonald's. More and more fast food brands are launching limited toy packages on Children's Day, touching the childlike innocence of adults through IP collaborations and cooperation with classic childhood film and television dramas.

Following the popularity of Psyduck the year before last, Pudding Dog and Cinnamon Dog last year, this year KFC has teamed up with Pokémon to bring a limited joint Children's Day set meal. When you buy a 69.9 yuan meal for two, a 109 yuan family bucket or a 129 yuan super bucket, you will get a large toy at random. The toys include a fun catcher, a Pokémon music CD player, a magic voice-controlled toy, a treasure storage bucket, a mysterious Gengar game console, etc.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

On social media platforms, many netizens said that in order to collect all the toys and eat KFC for a week straight, many said, "I cried because I was too full," "I vomited but still wanted to eat more," and "Only children make choices, I want them all!"

In order to celebrate Children's Day, Pizza Hut launched the Children's Day activities half a month in advance, which lasted for a month. Pizza Hut joined hands with Sanrio family to launch a limited set meal. Buying a 159 yuan set meal can get 1 toy, and buying a 289 yuan set meal can get 2 toys. The co-branded toys include ugly fish night light, kitty music box, Pacha dog tableware, pudding dog bubble machine, cinnamon dog spray boat, etc. Soon after the launch, many stores were out of stock.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

This year on Children's Day, Tustin Burger once again launched a joint venture with Balala the Fairies, which made many netizens say that "childhood DNA is in motion". During the event, Tustin Burger opened more than 40 offline theme stores across the country. If you spend more than 25 yuan, you can draw a Dorado bubble magic wand, and if you pay more than 35 yuan in stores across the country, you can get a magic wand and magic wings. On Children's Day, we also invited the well-known Coser Karina to the Tustin Chengdu pop-up store in Sichuan to carry out the Tata Magic Garden Party.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

It can be seen that for brands, Children's Day is no longer exclusive to a specific group, but a marketing node that reaches all consumers. Inspiring users' childlike innocence through limited toys is becoming a common means for brands to control adults.

2. Why can toy marketing easily “control” adults?

McDonald's has more than 40 years of experience in toy marketing, which enables it to easily "grasp" consumer emotions.

In 1979, McDonald's launched the first "Happy Meal", which included a hamburger, fries, a drink and a circus carriage-themed toy line, which caused a huge sensation across the United States. Since then, McDonald's "Happy Meal" toys have become a brand fixture.

Initially, the toys for Happy Meals were mostly based on McDonald's own mascots and food-related designs, such as Uncle Ronald the Clown and the Burger Thief. However, as the times changed and consumer demand diversified, McDonald's gradually began to collaborate with various popular TV series, movies, games, animations and other toy brands. These toys are not only loved by children, but many adults also buy them for nostalgia or collecting.

It is understood that the theme of the toys in Happy Meals changes every one or two months, with 6-8 models launched each time. Since its inception, McDonald's has developed more than 2,000 kinds of toys and has become a veritable "hidden toy empire."

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

In addition to the attraction of the toys themselves to adults, the brand's marketing strategy is also the key to capturing consumers. Brand toys usually adopt the "buy by the way" marketing strategy, with relatively affordable prices, which will not make consumers incur additional decision-making costs. For example, this time, the McNuggets French Fries Sauce Machine only needs to add 38 yuan to the daily consumption basis to purchase.

Secondly, the healing properties of toys + IP have brought extremely high emotional value to a group of young people. Things that are meaningless in your eyes may be priceless to others. After all, young people of this generation like to hoard some "beautiful waste".

According to the "2024 China Consumption Trend Survey", 64% of consumers attach more importance to spiritual consumption, and young consumers attach greater importance to spiritual consumption. Consumers pay more attention to their own small world and increasingly pursue a sense of gain, value and meaning in consumption. Rational consumption and emotional life will become the basic aspects of consumption.

Finally, group behavior has a strong assimilating effect on individual behavior. When seeing people around them discussing and buying a certain toy, individuals are easily influenced by group behavior and then make a purchase. This effect is further amplified by the promotion of celebrities, experts, and ordinary people.

In this online carnival of the McNuggets French Fries Sauce Machine, many celebrities such as Jiang Shuying, Wang Xinling, and Li Dan participated. With the blessing of the star effect, many consumers wanted to buy the same model. In addition, the sharing of many experts and amateurs such as @carbonated beverage goodbye, @爱吃的阿妍, and @铁蛋日记 further boosted the popularity of the brand's toys.

3. What is the logic behind brands’ enthusiasm for toy marketing?

Over the past 40 years, McDonald's has used toys to create a brand image that is different from other fast food restaurants. This has even created an emotional connection between growing people and McDonald's, which has made consumers themselves become close friends of the brand in terms of emotional appeal.

From the perspective of communication channels, whenever McDonald's launches a new series of toys, it will release preview videos and photos to arouse consumers' curiosity and expectations. After that, it will further stimulate consumers' desire to buy and enthusiasm for collection through limited-time and limited-quantity strategies. After purchasing and obtaining toys, consumers often share their gains and joy on social media, forming a secondary communication effect.

From the perspective of co-branding, recent brand toy marketing co-brandings are all relatively large and influential IPs, and are also an effective means for brands to leverage the fan influence and consumption power of IPs to reap the benefits.

In recent years, McDonald's has carried out in-depth cooperation with popular IPs such as Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars. For example, the "Frozen" series of toys has attracted the attention and love of countless children and families thanks to the huge success of the movie. These popular IPs not only have a huge fan base in the field of film and animation, but also have a strong brand influence worldwide. This win-win cooperation model not only enhances the market competitiveness of both brands, but also provides consumers with richer product choices and experiences.

Popular IPs often represent popular culture and fashion trends. By cooperating with these IPs, McDonald's not only enhances the brand's sense of fashion and trend, but also improves the brand's reputation and consumer recognition through the positive image of the IP.

References: 1. No matter how big or small, come to McDonald's to have a happy Children's Day! | City Memorandum