Maravilla’s Twitter post explaining that the rogue poster had been up for 51 days went on generate 1+ million likes and 253,000 retweets. The students also posted a YouTube video that gained more than 1.4 million views. The story was picked up media, including Ellen DeGeneres.
McDonald’s corporate partnered with DeGeneres to surprise the students each with a $25,000 check, with a commitment to use them in a future creative. Our public relations team collaborated, strategized and deployed an on-the-ground plan to engage local stakeholders, community partners, and the Houston McDonald’s corporate team to respond genuinely.

CAMPAIGN GOALS

• 20+ positive placements in local Houston media
• Establish the brand as responsive to consumer feedback and community concerns
• Reinforce brand values of inclusiveness, progressiveness, and local Integration

We developed a media training approach to help the local owner/operator positively portray McDonald’s. The narrative focused on congratulating the students for their creativity and sense of social responsibility while making a connection to McDonald’s brand values of family, inclusivity and diversity. CKP coordinated visits to the restaurant with the students to stage b-roll and photo shoots to include visuals of the students signing the poster, and with McDonald’s crew and staff.

To entice local media, CKP first concentrated on the celebrity story of Ellen DeGeneres, then used the results of those placements to follow-up about the ensuing national marketing campaign that included a concept developed by the students.

The story was widely covered by national and local media, including niche publications for marketing and advertising. The overwhelmingly positive message focused on McDonald’s openness and willingness to dialogue with the students about their purpose behind the prank: to raise awareness about racial inclusivity in marketing and advertising.