Bringing back Grimace–just a few months after another McDonald’s ad saw the return of the Hamburglar—is also part of what McDonald’s marketing team calls “future nostalgia.” The approach taps into nostalgia while also using innovation to reach a new generation. 

McDonald’s has been guided by this principle in other campaigns such as “As Featured In,” which highlighted references to the brand in film and TV and allowed fans to order the same meals as their favorite characters.

But Grimace’s birthday is the ultimate example of future nostalgia, as the campaign both reunited older generations with the purple mascot and introduced him to young people who perhaps had not yet celebrated their birthdays at McDonald’s, according to Healan. 

“We shared the pen with our fans. Gen Z loved that shake,” she said. “It’s amazing to see the conversation about the brand. We knew the fans were having such a good time, because we tapped into something celebrating an occasion, reignited memories of birthdays in the past—and the fans did it for us.”