On Instagram, everyone speaks. Very few brands are truly heard.
McDonald’s France faced a familiar challenge: how do you become a go-to cultural reference on social media when tens of thousands of posts compete for attention every single day?
Instead of guessing what might work, McDonald’s decided to hand creative power to its community. The idea was simple: turn the brand’s Instagram account into a live testing lab.
Each month, McDonald’s posts photo mockups of unexpected fashion items and accessories. Not to sell them, but to test them. Engagement, comments, likes, reactions: everything is tracked. Fans vote instinctively, just by interacting.
The ideas that perform best don’t disappear into the feed. They become real, limited-edition products, gifted directly to fans.
That’s how McDrops was born: the first McDonald’s fashion and accessories collection co-created with its fans. A collection where a light-green furry bucket hat can become iconic, simply because the community chose it.
McDonald’s didn’t chase trends.
It built a system where culture is tested, validated, and created with its audience.
The drops didn’t just land.
They took over feeds.
308,955 interactions, representing 32% of McDonald’s total social engagement in 2022
+45,336 new Instagram followers in a single year
A clear repositioning of McDonald’s as a social-first, culture-driven brand
Awards: Cannes Lions, Bronze // Eurobest, Silver
McDrops didn’t chase culture.
It co-created it.
