McDonald's, a fast food company that is best at making toys | Marketing Observation

The world is urging you to grow up, but only McDonald's treats you like a child. Because of a pair of "McMc Walkie Talkie" toys, it attracted many consumers and even crashed the APP.

Because of a pair of "Mai Mai Walkie-Talkie" toys, "Mai Men" fell into madness again.

On May 22, McDonald's officially launched a series of theme activities for Children's Day in 2024, launching a new toy "McMc Walkie Talkie". You can get a pair with any purchase of 38 yuan. This set of new toys is based on McDonald's classic products "Chicken McNuggets" and "French Fries". The communication distance can reach 300 meters, and 500,000 pairs are limited to sale.

With its cute design, the "Mai Mai Walkie Talkie" has been popular among consumers since its launch. On May 22, the McDonald's ordering app was paralyzed for a while. The duty manager of a store in Nanjing told 36Kr: "(The toy) was sold out within half an hour of our store opening."

Consumers' enthusiasm for buying has also spawned a group of scalpers. On second-hand platforms, the price of a "Maimai walkie-talkie" that originally cost 38 yuan was hyped up to 300 yuan, a tenfold increase in price. Some radio enthusiasts even disassembled the "Maimai walkie-talkie" and found that its chip was a Broadcom integrated BK4802 chip. Subsequently, the company received three daily limit increases.

McDonald's, sensing the needs of consumers, had to rush to restock. On May 29, McDonald's official Weibo said: "In order to let more people experience this childlike fun, we have decided to restock 200,000 McMc Walkie Talkies."

Image source: McDonald's Weibo

This is not the first time that McDonald's toys have been "snatched up". Last year on Children's Day, McDonald's launched a Tetris game machine in the shape of Chicken McNuggets to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Chicken McNuggets. It was also sold out immediately after it was launched. Some consumers said: "When I was a child, I cried when I couldn't eat McDonald's. Now that I grow up, I cry when I can't get McDonald's toys."

As a fast food company that is popular all over the world, why do McDonald's toys always attract young people? Children's Day is the main marketing battlefield for fast food giants. What new moves will KFC make this year?

1. McDonald's, a fast food company that is best at making toys

If we look at the absolute value of sales, McDonald's is likely to be the world's largest toy distributor. The New York Times once published a data in 2001 that McDonald's distributes 1.5 billion toys around the world every year, which is more than the number of toys sold by Hasbro and Mattel.

McDonald's history of distributing toys can be traced back to the 1970s, when the first Happy Meal was born. In 1979, McDonald's collaborated with the popular movie "Star Trek" and launched the first Happy Meal with a toy.

At first, franchisees were not optimistic about this model of giving toys away, because the toy boxes were too complicated and required additional inventory costs. However, once this set meal was launched, it was well received and was retained as a fixed dish.

In the 1980s and 1990s, McDonald's frequently cooperated with companies such as Mattel and Disney to develop toys. By cooperating with these popular IP manufacturers and offering sufficiently low toy prices, McDonald's Happy Meals captured the hearts of countless children.

The commercial value of children is far beyond people's imagination. If a child wants a Happy Meal, McDonald's can sell products to the child's whole family. In the Chinese mainland market, the first set of Happy Meal toys was launched in 1990. Today, it is available in 2,200 restaurants across China, with a new set of toys launched about every four weeks on average.

McDonald's China sold about 35 million Happy Meals in 2019. The birth of Happy Meals has single-handedly changed the marketing methods of the catering industry. Today, marketing methods such as giving away toys and peripherals are common in milk tea shops, and the consumer groups are no longer limited to children and families.

Image source: McDonald's official

According to the observation of a duty manager of a Nanjing store, the majority of consumers who bought the "McMc Walkie Talkie" this time were adults rather than children. If we roughly calculate the price of 700,000 pairs of "McMc Walkie Talkies" this time, McDonald's easily drove sales of 26.6 million in a few days, not including the cost of the food itself. McDonald's toys, which were originally used to attract customers, are bringing greater value to the brand.

2. Fast food brands don’t force you to grow up

One of the reasons why McDonald's toys can capture the hearts of consumers is that they are highly playable.

Whether it is last year's Chicken McNuggets game console or this year's "McMc Walkie-Talkie", neither is limited to a single doll or ornament form. Instead, they emphasize the interaction between the product itself and consumers. The game console and walkie-talkie are highly playable.

The interaction between consumers and toys can form secondary dissemination materials and further expand the circle.

Intercom review, image source: Xiaohongshu

For example, Xiaohongshu blogger @增大化饼书 posted a video to evaluate the effects of two walkie-talkies. The Disney walkie-talkie priced at 299 yuan was difficult to hear at a distance of 50 meters, while the McDonald's walkie-talkie priced at 38 yuan had a transmission distance that was almost four times that of Disney. This unexpected evaluation video boosted the popularity of the "Mai Mai Walkie-Talkie" itself.

As a fast food brand, McDonald's is becoming more and more fashionable and has become a cultural symbol. In the past few years, McDonald's has frequently collaborated with brands such as Crocs, Palace, and Verdy to build its own "fashion empire". The New York Times described it as: "McDonald's ambition for fashion is growing."

Maimai walkie-talkie has become a fashion item. Image source: Xiaohongshu

McDonald's has become a cultural symbol, and any small toy has the potential to become the next trendy item. Fashionable men and women on Xiaohongshu have used McNuggets to decorate their "OOTD" (outfit of the day).

In addition to McDonald's, KFC also collaborated with Pokemon on Children's Day this year to launch five fun toys, including Gengar's Digger Machine, Pikachu Record Player, Psyduck Music Box, Togepi Storage Jar, and Mimikyu Voice-Controlled Toy.

These five toys can also generate strong interactions with consumers, and even develop "new ways to play". On Xiaohongshu, the Pikachu record player is called "Gu Mei Sheng Ti". "Gu Mei" is a two-dimensional term that refers to the decorations used to decorate "Gu Zi" (two-dimensional peripherals, transliterated from "goods").

KFC toys have become "Gumei Holy Body", picture source: Xiaohongshu

Whether it is McDonald's or KFC, the marketing for adults on Children's Day has touched the childlike innocence of everyone, just like the widely circulated saying: "The world is urging you to grow up, but McDonald's and KFC treat you as a child."

One consumer lamented: “When I was a kid, I ate Happy Meals on my birthday. Now that I’m grown up, there’s a McDonald’s downstairs from my company so I can eat there every day. But my childhood is gone forever.