McDonald's MY creates Korean drama-like series to sell Spicy Korean Burger

McDonald's Malaysia is bringing back its Spicy Korean Burger, two years after it made its debut. To drum up excitement and awareness for the product, it produced a four-part video series which will launch on 1 June 2019 over four weeks. This is part of its annual "Discover the World" campaign which takes Malaysians on a journey to taste the different flavours from around the world.The ads are inspired by Korean dramas and feature the scary mother-in-law who fans generally dislike. In a statement to A+M, marketing director Eugene Lee said the ads will only run online and are targeted at Korean streaming platforms and Korean content on YouTube. Lee added that Korean culture is "huge" in Malaysia, and is "exceptionally popular" amongst the Malay community due to the similarities between Korean and Malay dramas."In Korean dramas and shows, consumers always see the celebrities eating mouth-watering Korean food. However, it's extremely hard to find halal Korean food in Malaysia," Lee said. As such, McDonald's saw the opportunity to leverage its halal status and big footprint nationwide to bring a taste of Korea to Malay consumers. Having only offered the beef Spicy Korean Burger in 2017, McDonald's is adding a chicken option to enable more consumers to try."It was a massive success for us in 2017. We planned for a four-week campaign but sold out in 10 days. Customers have been demanding for it to return and we are finally bringing it back in 2019," Lee said. He added that McDonald's "brought in more" stocks this time and is hoping to sell as per planned for the next four weeks.Check out the videos here: Earlier this month, McDonald's turned heads with its OOH campaign across Malaysia, featuring the famous sights and sounds of each location. The places included PETRONAS Towers, the Penang Bridge and Sunway Pyramid, and were constructed using McDonald's food such as fries, burgers, nuggets and ice cream. Last month, it announced that is targeting 20 more Drive-Thru restaurants this year, complementing the 167 Drive-Thru restaurants it currently has today. It is also eyeing RM3 billion in sales this year and plans to increase its footprint to 450 restaurants nationwide.