McDonald's has certainly had an interesting summer. The company experienced some decline in consumer demand leading up to the pandemic, but has seen an increase in consumer spending at their restaurants in the past two to three years. There are some analysts that attribute the recent increase in demand for McDonald's due to inflation and the increase in cost to feed a family and consumers being more focused on value-based dining options.

 The company wanted to have a special promotion this year focused on one of their long-standing, iconic characters associated with their brand. The company created a special Grimace Birthday Meal that was available starting on June 12. The meal was similar to their traditional meal offerings, but it included a limited-time Grimace milkshake that was purple. The company created special restaurant events around this birthday promotion, created a video game, and even partnered with their corporate charity, Ronald McDonald House, on a special fundraising initiative.

A social media influencer and content creator, the frazmaz, decided he wanted to create TikTok content that was similar to a promotion Burger King had with Spider Man earlier in the year. The content went viral and got international attention. Sadly, the content that was spreading was showing people passed out or pretending to be dead after drinking the shake. McDonald's even responded to the social media trend with their own post to make light of the content. 

The Grimace Birthday Meal is no longer available, but resulted in McDonald's receiving significant impressions and reach with social media and news outlets on TV and online carrying the news about this viral trend.

1. What target market do you think the initial Grimace Birthday Meal was aimed to reach?
2. What is your opinion of the way McDonald's responded to the viral trend?
3. How do you think the social media reach and exposure can help McDonald's with their future marketing and in-store sales?
4. What do you think McDonald's should do next with their marketing communications around a future promotion? Should they partner with social media influencers in advance of a promotion or focus on their own branding and marketing creative?