The World Wanted That Sauce

In April of 2017, Adult Swim dropped “The Rickshank Redemption” as an April Fool’s prank—giving “Rick and Morty” fans their first look at Season 3 months before its official premiere.

Key to the episode is the gag that all of Rick’s depravity/mad science stems from a desire to get more of McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce, released in 1998 as part of a promotion for “Mulan.”

In a heartbeat, the Internet made clear it, too, wanted the Szechuan Sauce. And so our team at Golin worked with our McDonald’s clients and sent “Rick and Morty” creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland a batch of new, fresh sauce pulled from a McDonald’s from Earth C-1998—a version of Earth where it’s perpetually been 1998.

In addition to a new label and a very tongue-in-cheek note, we threw in a couple McDonald’s branded collectibles from the period and sent the whole thing in a “Time Travel Stuff” box as seen in Rick’s lab.

….and it had the multiverse raving.

Not only was the Szechuan Sauce a hit with fans and the show’s crew, our bottle appeared in the opening sequence of “The Simpsons.” I’m still not over that. I’ll never get a guest spot on “The Simpsons” but the bottle Tom and I made is there.

Our McDonald’s clients were interesting in taking things a step further and committed to bringing Szechuan Sauce back for everyone. But that’s another story….

The Team

• Copywriter: Zach Tarvin
• Art Direction: Tom Glass
• Conceptual Partners: Ananta Prayitno, Lara Unnerstall
• Creative Director: Mike D’Amico