Fast food chains partner with celebrities to drive sales

The New York Times

On a Friday afternoon in the second quarter of 2020, Hope Bagozzi, vice president of marketing for Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons was talking via Zoom with representatives of Justin Bieber. The meeting agenda? Study a possible partnership between the two Canadian institutions.

The conversation had been following the normal course of business meetings, but things got surreal when, suddenly, as Bagozzi recalls, a black box that was present on the screen without making a sound suddenly opened and revealed Bieber’s presence. He said he loved the Timbits, Tim Hortons miniature donuts.

At one point in the conversation, he picked up a guitar to play a song about the Tim Hortons cafes he used to sing for his brothers. “I was texting my husband to let him know Justin Bieber was singing for us,” Bagozzi said, laughing. “I almost fell off my chair.”

The result of the conversation was the Timbiebs, a limited-edition donut in the flavors dreamed up by pop star and Tim Hortons chain chef, which include chocolate with white syrup and a birthday cake waffle. The new products arrived at Tim Hortons restaurants in November.

Welcome to the age of the celebrity happy meal. Fast-food companies are racing to align their products with high-impact musicians and influencers, in the hope that the items added to their menus will appeal to a younger audience. For consumers, it’s a relatively inexpensive and easy way to connect with their favorite celebrities or influencers.

Many of the big stars companies are courting are more than willing to collaborate, and sometimes the proposal for the partnership comes from them. After finding out about Bieber’s contract, singer Michael Bublé posted a video on TikTok suggesting a personal collaboration also in the donut business: the Bublébits.

Dunkin’ sided with Charli D’Amelio. Burger King created a meal called Lil Huddy. Megan Three Stallion developed a sauce for the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant chain (known as a “hottie sauce”, of course). McDonald’s created meals with Saweetie, BTS, J Balvin and Travis Scott. In November, eight people died and dozens were injured during a Scott concert at the Astroworld Festival in Houston. His partnership with McDonald’s had ended in 2020, according to the company.

This month, McDonald’s teamed up with Christmas Queen Mariah Carey to promote 12 days of offers on the singer’s favorite products, available exclusively through the restaurant’s app. Although Carey has already stated that she only eats Norwegian salmon and capers, her favorite McDonald’s dishes apparently include Big Macs, hot cakes and chocolate chip cookies.

This partnership trend is benefiting restaurants and celebrities, according to analysts and observers. It is also helping companies gain insight into the behavior of young consumers.

For some restaurants, celebrities are a powerful allurement that can convince users to download restaurant apps or join loyalty programs in order to get discounts on orders, or even free food. McDonald’s has recorded 10 million downloads of its app since it began its celebrity dining campaign in September 2020, a significant leap.

“It’s very clear that McDonald’s is using celebrities to draw the younger generation to its app, as a great touch point for engagement,” said Lauren Hockenson, product marketing manager at Sensor Tower, who researches the number of downloading apps and the advertising expenses of companies.

By offering rewards and a loyalty program, McDonald’s “hopes that the same consumer will use the app again and discover that McDonald’s is a cool, hip and trendy place to buy food.”

These celebrity partnerships are also helping brands gain access to platforms that millions of younger generations spend a lot of time on: Instagram, TikTok and other social media.

“If you think about what we’re targeting, which is youth and youth culture, that’s where they live,” said Jennifer Healan, McDonald’s vice president of marketing, brand content and engagement in the United States.

FREE PROMOTION

Even before the Dunkin’ and D’Amelio partnership, it was clear to her TikTok followers (they number 130 million) that the influencer, a 17-year-old brunette, liked the fast-food chain’s drinks; she frequently posted videos that showed her having coffee while dancing, or while showing off her outfit for the day. “Not a day went by without her having a Dunkin’ coffee,” said Ali Berman, digital director of talent and partner at the United Talent Agency, which represents D’Amelio.

In September 2020, when Dunkin’ launched Charli – a cold coffee with whole milk and caramel – and D’Amelio announced the new drink on its social media platforms, the result was a record in daily usage of the Dunkin app. ‘, company executives said in conversation with analysts when announcing the company’s results last month. (Dunkin’ did not respond to requests for comment.)

For the company, it was a simple partnership. She didn’t have to spend weeks or months testing new flavored coffees or making up cool names. “We took an existing product, changed its name to Charli and positioned it to appeal to younger consumers,” said Scott Murphy, president of Dunkin’ Americas, in the same conversation with analysts. (The company later launched another D’Amelio drink, the Charli Cold Foam, which follows the same recipe but with a little cinnamon and cold steam added.)

TikTok was soon inundated with free promotions for Dunkin’, with young people posting videos that showed Charlis drinking. Likewise, when McDonald’s was selling his Travis Scott meal, fans of the rapper recorded videos that showed them listening to one of his songs, “Sicko Mode,” when ordering the meal at McDonald’s, and posted the videos on TikTok.

“Young people became unwitting marketing professionals,” said Frances Fleming-Milici, director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut. “Companies don’t have to pay for this organically developed content, and for the videos people make on TikTok.”

Often the advertising that comes from social media engagement is the goal of these campaigns. Megan Three Stallion publicized her partnership with Popeyes, controlled by Restaurant Brands International, through a five-minute video, “Hottie Sauce Mukbang”, on YouTube in October. On Instagram, she posted a video that showed friends ordering and trying the sauce.

Even before the sauce was available at Popeyes restaurants, “we started to see an immediate reaction from people to her post and our release of the press kit,” said Bruno Cardinali, vice president of marketing for Popeyes. “Social media was the centerpiece of the campaign.”

App downloads and customer subscriptions also allow fast food companies to collect data about consumers. Restaurant chains like McDonald’s are always trying to figure out how consumers are ordering, and specifically determine where, at what time, how often and what form of payment is used when they buy meals, said Kelly Martin, professor at Colorado State University, which researches privacy issues related to consumer data.

Starbucks has been particularly successful with its loyalty program, Martin said. “With the data they were able to obtain through the program, they dramatically increased billing per customer.”

The goal of data collection by most restaurants is to change customer behavior. The system can be used to forward notifications with special offers designed to lure customers back more often, or to make them place larger orders when they visit, said Kate Hogenson, director of Mallett Group, a consultancy specializing in loyalty programs. She considers this to be an advantage in this case.

The interests of companies and those of customers “are aligned right now,” Hogenson said. “If I’m McDonald’s and I’m taking advantage of the Saweetie meal, if it’s drawing people into stores, what I want is for them to join my loyalty program to better track their activities, but I’ll compensate them with freebies.”

THE POWER OF A STAR ENDORSEMENT

Critics say partnerships, usually aimed at a younger audience, should be geared towards healthier food choices. An average carton of D’Amelio no Dunkin’ drink contains 50 grams of sugar. Burger King’s Lil Huddy doesn’t just include a spiced chicken sandwich and cheese sticks, but a chocolate milkshake. The package, including the milk shake, has a caloric value of over 2,400 calories, and contains almost 100 grams of fat.

“Celebrity endorsement is especially strong with children,” said Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, a nonprofit organization focused on the effects of marketing on children. “They begin to associate a celebrity with a brand and want junk food even if this type of product is not being aimed directly at them.”

Indeed, while kids may be able to distinguish between a commercial and a TV show, the distinction is more complicated when it comes to paid content on social media, said Golin. It can be difficult for a child to protect themselves against promotions made by an influencer they follow, he added.

Spokespersons for McDonald’s and Restaurant Brands International, which controls Popeyes, Burger King and Tim Hortons, said via email that they are responsible marketing for children under 12 and offer healthier choices. “As far as the celebrity-inspired meals we offer, we understand that they can be popular with younger customers and we intend to have them enjoyed as a special prize for the limited time they are offered,” added Leslie Walsh, spokesperson for Restaurant Brands International.

Celebrities and fast-food brands do not report the amounts that celebrities are receiving for these contracts, and those contacted for this article declined to respond. But the success achieved means that the trend is not likely to disappear any time soon. Indeed, for celebrities and influencers, the potential for advertising connections is immense.

When agents at the A3 Artists Agency discovered that one of their clients, YouTuber Larray, had worked at a Subway restaurant as a teenager, they immediately thought of a partnership. According to Jade Sherman, partner and director of the agency’s digital area, “we contacted Subway and said they needed to do something.”