Marketing wisdom tells us you should never change the name of one of the world’s biggest brands overnight. Unless you’re McDonald’s Canada, and Connor McDavid just won the 4 Nations Face-Off. McDonald’s Canada broke away from the widely accepted conventional wisdom and, in doing so, landed a once-in-a-lifetime reactive moment that set single-day sales records.

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament to Canadians in 2025. The U.S. president publicly mused about the annexation of Canada as the 51st state – inciting a deep-rooted Canadian pride and patriotism leading into the final face-off against our rival, the USA. When Connor McDavid delivered the game-winning overtime goal for Canada, McDonald’s Canada didn’t want to just join in on the moment, we wanted to find a way to stamp our brand all over it. So we got to work. A congratulatory social post or giveaway simply wouldn’t cut it.

The idea was dead simple. McDavid’s and McDonald’s Canada, two iconic “Mc” names coming together for one iconic moment. When McDavid lit the lamp to bring home the 4 Nations Cup, we followed through on a half-serious promise we’d tweeted at him months before (we said if he won the Cup, we’d change our name to McDavid’s). So, we did. We created something for our fans, and let them run wild with it.

Unlike most places in the world, McDonald’s is a challenger QSR brand in Canada. It trails behind iconic Canadian heavyweight Tim Hortons in QSR breakfast and lunch, coffee and, importantly – in perceived relevance to Canadians’ everyday lives. Despite our worldwide popularity, McDonald’s is ultimately seen as an American brand on Canadian soil. Heading into 2025, forging an authentic connection with hockey was our strategy to win the hearts of Canadian customers as an American brand.

The McDavid moment offered McDonald’s a chance to not just connect with Canadians, but to act Canadian and solidify our relevance in their lives by engaging with fans of Canada’s game. It is well-known that McDonald’s is a place to celebrate victories of all kinds, so we took that core truth and ran with it. A social media post simply wouldn’t cut it. If we wanted to truly celebrate Connor’s and Team Canada’s achievement, and stand out from one of the noisiest media frenzies Canada had ever seen, we’d need to go big. And go big we did. Our approach not only broke through, but also challenged marketing conventions. By tweeting at Connor throughout the season, we’d set the foundation for a larger interaction between the two McD’s. So when the moment struck, we were ready. What appeared to be a reactive activation was a calculated moment of fandom.

We did something McDonald’s has never done before: a new brand name, new signs, and a new 97¢ deal on French fries to match Connor’s jersey number. The McDavid’s restaurant was brought to life in two key cities (Edmonton, the home of his pro team, the Oilers, and Newmarket, Connor McDavid’s hometown) within 96 hours of the final buzzer.

Because this activation was reactive, there was no planned production budget or paid media spend. Instead, we would need to use the power of the moment and speak like a fan to ensure we got traction. Aside from the use of one paid influencer, success would be predicated on how well we could penetrate culture, as well as the strength of our partnership with the operators to bring this idea to fruition in such a short amount of time.

The result was nothing short of a phenomenon. Despite activating this idea during one of the most crowded and intense media frenzies in Canadian history, our reactive approach stood head and shoulders above the rest. Fans drove from all over, and lined up for photos, treating the restaurant like a national monument. We saw over $1.5M in earned media across 321 unique pieces of coverage, 45M+ earned impressions, sales of +26.6% YOY (French fries +1,080%, +2,837% and +3,667%, respectively, during the week), and three days of sales that outperformed the previous single-day best, with Saturday exceeding the previous record by 42.4%.2 All with $0 spent in paid media.