The goal
McDonald’s aimed to drive awareness and engagement for its Summer Drink Days promotion in Canada. The brand wanted to connect with Gen Z and young millennial audiences in an authentic way that aligned with their digital consumption habits.
With traditional digital advertising becoming increasingly saturated, McDonald’s sought a fresh approach that would break through the noise and deliver its message in a native, engaging format. To achieve this, they partnered with #paid and became the first brand in Canada to leverage Snapchat’s Snap Star Creators Program—tapping into the trusted voices of Snapchat creators to generate real connections and maximize campaign impact.
The campaign
As the launch partner of Snapstars, Omnicom Media Group’s agency OMD, brought McDonald’s to be the first brand in Canada to leverage this program with #paid. McDonald’s worked with Snap Stars Spencer Barbosa and OG Joseph, two highly influential Canadian creators with strong engagement among Gen Z audiences. These creators produced and shared organic Snap Stories, showcasing the fun and refreshing appeal of McDonald’s summer beverages in a way that felt authentic and relatable to their followers.
Key results
Their content garnered 425.2K organic Story Views, proving the power of Snapchat’s highly engaged audience. To amplify reach, McDonald’s boosted the creators’ content through paid media, driving an additional 2.6M Paid Video Views (2s view time). The combined organic and paid strategy resulted in a +7pt Lift in Ad Awareness for Snap Star Creator Content Commercials (Source: Snapchat 1P Multi-Cell Brand Lift Study: Ad Product Sub-cut), demonstrating how Snapchat creator partnerships can effectively blend storytelling with media amplification to maximize impact.
