Always on the lookout for opportunities and market trends, McDonald’s launched in September this year, two months before the 2022 World Cup, a campaign called ”Cola no Méqui” that showcases marketing strategy. This campaign consists, in short, in the sale of “themed” combos, accompanied by a pack of stickers from the World Cup album. However, the goal goes much further than just increasing sales of the franchise’s products. Read!

Panini, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola partnership

Valid from 09/20/2022, the campaign sells the “Combo Stickers”, consisting of a sandwich with Coca-Cola drink, a dessert, and a pack of stickers from the official FIFA World Cup 2022 album. campaign is until stock last. The big “move” was to link the success of the 2022 World Cup album with the exclusive release of the long-awaited 8 flavors of sandwiches that bear the name of some teams that will be part of the world championship. United States, Argentina, Spain, Germany, France, Mexico, Qatar and Brazil were the countries contemplated and ”transformed into sandwiches”, according to the peculiarity of each one.

Restaurants turned into sticker exchange points

In addition to the sticker pack combo and the thematic flavors of the sandwiches, some stores have also become points of exchange for stickers from the 2022 World Cup album. Méqui 1000, located on Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo, is already one of the most sought after by the crowd. In general, most people start switching after finishing their chosen snack according to the day of the week. McDonald’s vice president of marketing commented on the strategy: “It is a pleasure for us to be able to bring initiatives like this to the country most passionate about football. Being able to link sports to the best McDonald’s has to offer is perfect, especially with the practicality that we seek to achieve with our service channels and, in particular, with the Piece and Collect. We will continue to think about the best ways to link the brand’s experience to football and we have a lot of news coming to celebrate this year’s World Cup”. The campaign motivates consumers to get into the spirit of the 2022 World Cup, in addition to joining the passion for collecting the cup album and consuming the franchise’s delicacies.

But is only McDonald’s able to profit so much from the 2022 World Cup?

There’s no denying that McDonald’s was very efficient in its strategies to make the most of the great event that is the World Cup. But this initiative is not exclusive to the big brands. Your company can (and should) also think of a marketing strategy to combine the World Cup with the promotion of your products. According to surveys, some niches in the clothing and food markets have seen real growth in sales in the months prior to and during the World Cup. If this is the case for your brand, now is the time to take advantage of the seasonal increase in demand to generate a great financial return. Some tips are:

• “Put on the shirt”: decorate your physical store and/or customize your ecommerce with the colors of Brazil
• Plan promotions for customers: have you thought about giving some kind of special discount on games in which Brazil is champion?
• Attention to communication channels: this year there will be the possibility of watching the games on other platforms, as the matches will be broadcast both on open TV and on streaming platforms and social networks, for example. Keep an eye out for programmatic inventory on CTVs and OTTs and fire the right message to a wide audience.