Regina Olkowski

Hey Regina,

I loved reading your post. I love a good big mac but I do not think I would like it with mac and cheese on it. I am not really a big mac and cheese girl to begin with, but I know a ton of people who would buy this. I think this is great exposure for not only Kraft but for McDonalds as well. Sometimes I feel like people forget about the items on the menu that have there since the beginning. It will be very interesting to see if people would actually buy this and if it would even be a good combination to have.

Couldn’t agree more! The Glossier case study dove into this a bit as well: “It used to be that brands were the sole owners of opinion; that’s no longer the case. Influence has been completely decentralized and now is in the hands of individual consumers. You don’t have to listen to a brand, you can listen to literally hundreds of people. Social media is the gateway to this transformation”.

Hey Regina, Awesome post.

In the age where fast food restaurants are trying new exotic items ( like KFC donut burger), Mac and cheese on a Big Mac is not the craziest idea. I would definitely try it because I love burgers and Mac and cheese. Success for Kraft would probably be consumers posting a picture of adding their own kraft Mac and cheese to a Big Mac with a hashtag, mentioning Kraft on their timeline.

Thanks, Regina! This is news to me. I totally agree with the points above that this is a great way to make your customers feel like they are being heard while drumming up a lot of attention online for both brands.

I must say that I am skeptical there isn’t already an agreement in place between Kraft Mac & Cheese and McDonald’s. Maybe I am a cynic and have lost all faith in huge corporations, or maybe this program is making me think like a marketer, but this doesn’t seem very authentic. I’d be willing to bet there is already an underlying partnership agreement between the two, and this is just phase 1. They SEEM to be putting power in the customers’ hands, but I’m sure this is just a publicity stunt knowing they will launch this no matter what. Genius, nonetheless!

I’m with Andrea on this one… Might the activation be a publicity stunt between the two brands? Would be interesting to see who their respective agencies of record are!

This is the first I’m hearing about this, but I can tell you, I would definitely eat a Big Mac n Cheese, that sounds amazing. Reading your article the whole time I was thinking “wow what a good idea by Kraft to get McDonald’s to work with them on a Big Mac” but when I started reading the comments I realized I didn’t even think about McDonald’s and Kraft would be working together to create hype around this burger. I definitely think it’s a possibility, that the two are working together. As Andrea said, they definitely aimed to make the customers think they are holding power, while they are secretly planning something big to put out to the world!

Hey Regina!

This is pretty brilliant. I will admit, I haven’t heard of it, but it looks tasty! I would be willing to try it for sure. I love how they kept it extremely simple. They completely nailed the branding, placement, and play on words. I’ve had mac and cheese on pizza before, so I can imagine it would be great on a burger, if not a little messy – haha! As a child, I think I would have gone crazy over a mac-and-cheeseburger. I am skeptical about them not having an agreement in place already, but it’s a great marketing idea nonetheless!