How did McDonald’s and Joel Ostrat team up to make historic burgers?

It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t know a place as big as McDonald’s. How do you bring such a global brand closer to local customers and create a campaign that reflects local tastes and people? To do this, we had Joel Ostrat create Maestro burger recipes that turned people around in Estonia and across the Baltics.

It wasn’t just hype. It was a perfectly executed media relations exercise.

For the Maestro burger project, McDonald’s was looking for an Estonian master chef whose recipes would inspire people. They were looking for a burger that would truly make history. It was realised that only Joel Ostrat, a top chef loved by the people, could do it in Estonia. The recipes reached far beyond Estonia’s borders and conquered McDonald’s restaurants in the Baltics.

Joel communicated directly with people via McDonald’s Estonia’s Instagram account, let TV and radio presenters taste the burgers and gave an exclusive interview to Delfi before the launch, which was the number one news story in Delfi in terms of readership. It wasn’t just hype. It was a perfectly executed media relations exercise.

But our strategy didn’t only work in traditional media.

OBJECTIVES

• To convey the message that this is not just the next McDonald’s burger but a gourmet meal from a master chef.
• To convey the message that an Estonian chef created the burger recipe.
• To talk directly and transparently about the creation of the recipe and the choice of ingredients.

• Get people talking about the new burgers from McDonald’s restaurants.

STRATEGY

MAIN OBJECTIVE: Get the message across that an Estonian chef created the burger.

KPI: Get people talking about burgers.

Target audience: 

• Women and men aged 25-40 across Estonia.
• Food enthusiasts – people who love good food but are not necessarily critics.

SOURCE

To create a strong bond between a global brand and local people, we chose Joel Ostrat, the star chef most loved by Estonians, to cook Maestro burgers. In addition to preparing the burger recipes, he became the face of the entire campaign across the Baltics. We brought Joel closer to the Estonian people by giving him the use of McDonald’s Estonia Instagram account. We sent him on TV and radio to eat burgers with the presenters, and we made Joel a courier and had him deliver burgers to his well-known friends. We made a news story about Joel’s recipes, which was the most read news story on Delphi.

MESSAGE: Burgers with recipes from top Estonian chef Joel Ostrat are on the menu at McDonald’s® restaurants in the Baltics.

RESULTS

A few days after the launch, the burger ingredients started to run out in the restaurant, and a week after the launch, sales targets were doubled.

Meta team

Helin Naska Senior Consultant