On June 12, 2024 McDonald's Grimace celebrated his birthday by taking the mound for a New York Mets’ ceremonial first pitch, and became the most fun – and unlikely – sports hero of the year. That day would be the start of a seven-game winning streak, giving wary Mets fans hope that he could be the spark that saves their lost season. All across the internet, they quickly claimed Grimace as their good luck charm, and The Grimace Effect was born.
From there, our primary goal was simply to drive brand affinity and love for the character himself by resurfacing him in timely, unexpected ways whenever Mets fans would be most excited about his uncanny ability to give the team a winning edge.
What began as a one-off stadium appearance turned into an emotional rollercoaster that lasted from June to October – and a huge opportunity for McDonald’s to emotionally connect with baseball fans in New York in need of a good luck charm.
Without ever knowing what would happen next, McDonald’s was able to tap into the electricity of sports, and the superstition of baseball, transforming simple IRL activations like riding a subway into viral moments driven by the fans.
Thinking on our feet and reacting throughout the season, we had Grimace live-tweeting games, appearing on a billboard at Citi Field, starring in the Mets' 2025 schedule release video, turning the Empire State Building purple, and even riding a customized NY subway train to a playoff game with excited fans. As the team climbed their way up from the bottom of the division standings, all of this activity fueled the fan-led narrative that Grimace was good luck. They couldn’t get enough of it—creating and sharing their own content on social media, remixing Grimace's antics into memes, videos, fan art, and cosplay. Whenever they needed a little something extra, we’d bring him back out to keep the good luck flowing. To our amazement, it kept working, the team kept winning, and the fans kept loving it.
The most critical element was timeliness. The second most critical was luck. No one knew how long the Mets’ hot streak would last, so we had to be on our toes, ready to react strategically to big moments throughout the season. Sit one out and you could lose your status to another good luck charm; overdo it and you risk killing the magic.
After a whole season of engagement with Mets fans across various channels, the campaign culminated in a playoff surprise. To make sure fans could ride out to Citi Field in style, McDonald’s decked out New York’s 7-train with custom Grimace-Mets decals, and Grimace even hopped aboard the train to hype everyone up on their way to the game!
By supporting the team on a historic run, and making it easy for fans to spread Grimace hype, we fostered affinity for the McDonald’s brand in the forums, at the stadium, and everywhere in between, all season long.
We pride ourselves on seamlessly integrating the McDonald’s brand into culture at-large by meeting people where they are and reacting quickly when organic opportunities to do something they love present themselves.
Not just Mets fans, but sports fans in general, clearly loved The Grimace Effect. The string of stunts and appearances coupled with the team’s winning streak generated enough conversation throughout the season to account for 9.6B impressions across social media and earned media, while doubling the brand’s average Positive Sentiment metrics. What’s even more amazing is the brand, the fans, and the Mets, managed to make The Grimace Effect REAL. Fans wore custom Grimace apparel/costumes and brought Grimace tchotchkes to games for good luck, players on the team began wearing purple cleats, and all the positive energy led to their best season of the decade, with a .628 winning percentage in The Grimace Era, and their first trip to the National League Championship Series in 9 years.
