It’s the age of immersive events: From art exhibitions to kid’s shows to toys, it seems getting creative about how consumers experience your product has become the golden ticket to good marketing. And now joining the ranks is McDonald’s.
The fast food company is hosting an immersive dining experience in West Hollywood to celebrate the launch of its new anime-inspired sauce, dubbed WcDonald’s Sauce.
The sauce is an ode to anime makers who have been making McDonald’s-inspired “WcDonald’s” restaurants a part of anime movies and shows for years. WcDonald’s has appeared in “Cat’s Eye,” “InuYasha,” “Serial Experiments Lain,” and “Sonix X,” to name a few.
And short of being dipped into the sauce yourself, the immersive experience is about as interactive as one themed around a condiment can get. More on that later.
But first, the bad news: The event is limited to two days (March 9 and 10) and quickly sold out when reservations opened on OpenTable on Feb. 28.
The good news: The sauce is available now and will be around for a limited time, and McDonald’s customers all over the country can get a chance to try it.
So, more relevant to you, the reader, a review of the sauce: An elevator-pitch-style description would call it a tangy, soy-ish chili blend with a kick at the end.
An “I looked at the ingredients” style description would tell you it’s a mix of garlic puree, ginger puree, fermented soybean paste, pear puree concentrate and salted sake.
I actually preferred it with the fry over the chicken nugget, perhaps because it’s such a bold flavor that it does better with foods that aren’t also trying to compete for your tastebuds, making it a much better friend of the potato-salt combo.
Watch this experience on our Instagram
We made a video about this article on Instagram. You can share it by clicking the post below to open it in the app and press the paper airplane icon. You can either add it to your stories for all your followers or share it with someone specific.
The packaging of the sauce is pretty standard, aside from the flipped “M,” making it the “WcDonald’s Sauce.” But the packaging of the classics — McNuggets, fries, drinks – is pretty fun.
The fast food chain teamed up with Japanese manga artist and illustrator Acky Bright to design custom WcDonald’s packaging, according to a press release from the chain.
The ode to anime is probably what made the sauce promotion event translate so well to an interactive experience.
In the beginning, attendees are escorted into the illusion of what you might find at any old McDonald’s restaurant, complete with projections of windows with cars whizzing by, except that everything is “WcDonald’s” branded.
An ominous-looking “Do Not Open” box sits at the edge of every table. Spoiler alert: It has WcDonald’s Sauce in it. You are almost immediately allowed to open it.
In reality, you’re in a windowless room with film projections. As staff files out, dressed in stylish versions of the classic McDonald’s uniform, anime-style cartoon projections begin to play, and the dining adventure commences.
Narrated by a yellow-haired, WcDonald’s-uniform-wearing anime character, different anime shorts are played throughout the meal as four episodic shorts take fans into the world of WcDonald’s, where a story about the WcDonald’s Sauce and WcNuggets unfold.
The shorts were made in partnership with animation house studio pierrot, and you can watch them by scanning a QR code on a WcDonald’s bag, according to the press release.
Related Articles
In-N-Out Burger has a new merchandise line honoring drag racing
Dominican food in North Hollywood is a tasty treasure at this restaurant
Shake Shack has free burgers for Oscar nominees — and maybe you
Why Wendy’s has been catching flak over prices and how restaurants can avoid it
7 bars serving non-alcoholic St. Patrick’s Day mocktails for a hangover-free holiday