If you’ve ever laughed at one of McDonald’s social media posts, you can thank Courtney O'Donnell and Jade Smith.
Special Report: Agency A-List & Creativity Awards
Courtney O'Donnell and Jade Smith make McDonald’s look good
Courtney O'Donnell and Jade Smith are 2022 Creativity Awards Social Lead/Community Managers of the Year winners
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Courtney O'Donnell and Jade Smith, community managers
Credit:
Wieden+Kennedy's Bodega
The two are part of Bodega, Wieden+Kennedy’s social-first creative studio. Both O’Donnell and Smith are stand-up and improv comedians and have been able to channel that knack for humor into their work for McDonald’s. The fast food chain is known for its celebrity orders, and that’s given McDonald’s the chance to connect with those fans. On Twitter, they posted an exaggerated version of Mariah Carey’s rider (including 1,423 sesame seeds on the bun and bedazzled soda cups); hosted a sing-along for BTS fans; and even joined FaZe Clan for a day.
In a prime example of moving quickly with social trends, O’Donnell and Smith went all-out after TikToker Emily Zugay famously “redid” the McDonald’s logo. They rebranded all of the brand’s social accounts, even having executives capitalize “O”s in their names. It was one of the first brands to take a TikTok trend and bring it to other platforms.
In the last year, the two have grown McDonald’s Twitter following by nearly 19% (3.6 million to 4.3 million); its Instagram by more than 11% (3.7 million to 4.1 million); and launched its TikTok, which has now accumulated 1.9 million followers and earns about 1 million views per month.
