McDonald’s launches Minions-themed products in India

This came as its restaurants offer special deals to vaccinated customers.

Fast-food giant McDonald’s has launched a collection of Minions toys with 36 different designs across North and East India restaurants, aiming to offer a sensory experience to customers during the pandemic, according to a GlobalData report.

With every purchase of a McDonald’s Happy Meal, customers will receive a Minion collectable packed in a blind capsule. Customers can order the newly launched products in-store through the McDonald’s App, at Drive-Thru, or via McDelivery.

The move came after the company announced in June that its restaurants in North and East India will offer special deals to those who are vaccinated, noted GlobalData’s consumer insights analyst Namrata Sain.

“This is in line with consumer companies globally trying to incentivize shoppers who are vaccinated. As conversations around the pandemic and inoculation take over social media and occupy consumer mind space, marketers are getting a chance to build promotions around the same,” Sain said.

This bodes well with 47% of Indians, who opted for food from daily to once a week in quick-service restaurants, and 57% who ordered takeaway or delivery from restaurants in the last three months due to COVID-19, a survey found.

McDonald’s realized that desserts can also offer some comfort to the consumers and provide a sense of normalcy and pleasure to customers, hence their offering of banana-flavoured desserts and brownies, Sain said.

“Familiarity and nostalgia can often translate to a "perceived" better quality and trustworthiness, and this will drive the sales for McDonalds, despite having a comparatively limited menu to what consumers may be used to,” Sain added.