Grimace campaign that went weirdly viral fuels McDonald's Q2, yet growth may slow as inflation cools

abcnews.go.com:

McDonald’s is grinning thanks to Grimace after a marketing campaign to celebrate the “birthday” of its big purple mascot went viral and contributed to surprisingly strong second quarter sales

McDonald’s is grinning thanks to Grimace after a marketing campaign to celebrate the “birthday” of its big purple mascot went viral and contributed to surprisingly strong second quarter sales.

Global same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, rose nearly 12% in the April-June period. That handily beat Wall Street’s forecast of a 9.4% increase, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Some of those gains may fade a bit in the second half of this year. The price increases that have helped fuel McDonald's sales in recent quarters will moderate as inflation comes down, Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden said Thursday in a conference call with investors.

“We recognize that we’re operating in a challenging macro environment, where costs remain elevated, customers discretionary spending is limited and industry traffic is pressured,” Borden said.

The Grimace campaign, which featured a limited-time purple milkshake, took on a life of its own after fans posted videos of themselves drinking the milkshake and then ending up on the ground in a messy pool of purple, or having some sort of seemingly paranormal experience. One TikTok video showing a teen drinking one in his car and then disappearing in a milkshake explosion. That video garnered more than 5 million “likes.”

“Grimace has been everywhere the past few months. All over the news, and more than 3 billion views on TikTok,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said. “This viral phenomenon is yet another proof point of the power of marketing at McDonald’s today.”

But in other markets,