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And we found the right partner to pull it off. The elusive & mysterious Cactus Plant Flea Market’s playfulness and positivity as a brand embodied what we wanted people to feel once they had the box in-hand. While the streetwear brand may not be a household name, they have high taste recognition, and much like McDonald’s, are beloved by their fans. 

 

Introducing: the Cactus Plant Flea Market Box.

 

Our brand clients “handed the pen” to CPFM, and for the first time, McDonald’s was entering another brand’s world, versus asking them to come into ours. As McDonald’s fans themselves, CPFM brought their own nostalgic memories of the drive-thru with their friends, and the classic McDonaldland characters, into the work.  

 

First they created a Happy Meal-like box and collectible figurines with their signature “double vision” eyes on our classic Grimace, Hamburglar and Birdie characters. They also gave them a friend from the CPFM world— “Cactus Buddy!” Cactus Plant’s artistry impacted far more than just the box and collectible figurines. Their vision was brought to life across a full 360-degree integrated marketing campaign, including everything from TV and in-store designs at retail, to a snapchat AR experience, custom merch, and even a physical bench that toured 5 locations in New York City with Ronald McDonald and “Cactus Buddy!” sitting together to tease the launch a week before the box was available. 

 

The success was instant. Not only was the new “adult happy meal” sold out in most restaurants nationwide after just one week, it was organically covered by nearly every major late night program and morning show during that first week. The figurines were being sold by fans on Ebay by day one, and entire Reddit threads were dedicated to fans guiding others on how to get the box once the restaurants started selling out. The McDonald’s app saw remarkable engagement and purchase results from the program, and many of our social posts across Twitter & Instagram have now become top 10 brand posts of 2022.