To promote the long-awaited return of the McRib to AAPI consumers and support McDonald’s overarching creative platform of “McRib-ifying the Holidays”, we took inspiration from how Asian countries celebrate Christmas: by blending western holiday traditions with Eastern cultural pastimes. The result was the world’s first McRib Caroloke Bus, a doubledecker that combined caroling with karaoke.
The lyrics were mine but, mercifully, the singing was not. We featured a 14-person choir, including AAPI pop stars Ylona Garcia and Tiffany Day, to serenade the crowd. The bus toured neighborhoods in Los Angeles and New York and entertained passersby with McRib-ified versions of holiday classics like “Deck the Buns”, “O McRib Sauce”, and “We Wish For a Tasty McRib.”
Over the course of two weekends, the bus pulled up on busy sidewalks and hosted live 15-minute performances. Designed to be interactive, spectators were encouraged to sing along by following the lyrics on the bus’s giant screen.
We kicked the campaign off with a TikTok duet between Ylona and Tiffany singing the campaign’s McRib jingle. We then had McDonald’s comment on their duet video, making it seem as if this was the inspiration for the Caroloke bus (you may call it a lie, we like to call it holiday magic).
Truthful or not, fans seemed to love the experience as they chased down the bus to join in on the singing. During the performances, a team of brand ambassadors handed out McRib merchandise and gift cards to help drive traffic to nearby McDonald’s restaurants.
Our McRib holiday cheer generated over 10 million social impressions across four days and led to over 3,700 McDonald’s app downloads via bus QR code