As an integrated marketing agency, with extensive brand partnerships experience, Allied has been part of leveling up the rise in entertainment partnerships & product collaborations, with an emphasis on engaging fan cultures. We recently paired video game publisher, HoYoverse, with McDonald's for a landmark gaming-themed, Adult Meal promotion available in the United States. This collaboration started with fans & visionaries on the McDonald's team and came to life via gorgeous creative from the HoYoverse team - a partnership for fans, by fans.  

Here's our collaborative recipe for success:

Fandom was the key ingredient in bringing together HoYoverse and McDonald's for the restaurant's first ever gaming-themed Adult Meal promotion, featuring HoYoverse's Genshin Impact. The Genshin Impact x McDonald's limited-time menu, featuring Genshin Impact Apple Pie and Deluxe McCrispy Meal, was available for fans of the world's most popular anime game through the McDonald's app and digital kiosk POS across all 14,000 McDonald's stores in the U.S., from Sept. 17-29, 2024.

Tapping Into The Rise of Anime and Digital Natives

Anime in pop culture has steadily risen from a niche interest to pop culture mainstay in the United States. Anime's growing popularity has not gone unnoticed by brands, including McDonald's, who are looking to tap into vibrant new audiences. This collaboration was driven by fans of both the free-to-play open-world adventure role-playing game and iconic restaurant chain, with players creating "McGenshin" memes featuring characters in McDonald's uniforms and in front of the famous Arches shortly after the anime-inspired game's launch in 2020. McDonald's social listening picked up on the trend, and in 2024, identified a perfect partnership opportunity to tap into Genshin Impact's digital native fans with a campaign centered around driving McDonald's app downloads and purchase of Genshin Impact-themed apple pies and meals to gain access to exclusive content, including in-game apple pies and recipes, a custom name card, and a coveted Wind Glider.

Driving Record-Breaking Engagement

The Genshin Impact Apple Pie and Meal became the highest digital in-app products of all time in terms of penetration and proportion, underscoring the digital savviness of the combined fandoms of Genshin Impact and McDonald's. 

This landmark achievement emphasizes how deeply entrenched Genshin Impact fans are in the digital ecosystem and their readiness to engage with brands through digital mediums. The partnership showcased the latent potential in harnessing the power of fandoms for brand growth and engagement - leading to significant sales results.

Inciting Social Media Frenzy

The collaboration's success was underscored with staggering social engagement. The partnership achieved an impressive 1.2 billion social reach during the 12-day campaign window, surpassing many of McDonald's longer campaign windows and proving that the enthusiasm of fans can lead to exponential visibility and engagement. 

The campaign's initial Instagram collaboration announcement became one of McDonald's most engaged posts of all time. Genshin Impact's community made their passion known with fanatic engagement on social, re-sharing and creating custom native content around the partnership. The level of interaction demonstrated how fandoms can drastically amplify a campaign's reach and impact.

In Conclusion

The Genshin Impact x McDonald's partnership is a compelling example of the power of fandoms, especially within the anime and gaming communities. The collaboration set new digital benchmarks for McDonald's product penetration and proportion. Embracing the interests and habits of fan communities boosted immediate campaign metrics and built long-lasting relationships with highly engaged and loyal consumers. It highlights a crucial lesson for marketers: understanding and integrating into the digital and cultural narratives of contemporary fandoms can unlock phenomenal success.

At AGM, we pride ourselves on creating innovative and results-oriented programs that drive fan engagement. Want to learn more about our approach? Get in touch.