McDonald's China CEO livestreams McCrispy chicken

More than a million viewers on the video-sharing platform Bilibili have watched McDonald's China CEO's livestreaming their new chicken products, leading a trend among global retail brands trying to reach younger generations as consumption has started to rebound in the country.

On April 15, McDonald's China held a 24-hour new product online launch event on Bilibili. During the event, the retailer handed out product coupons worth over one million yuan.

The launch event included an on-site tasting of new products, a give-away of McCrispy Chicken to delivery riders and people who work overtime, and eating chicken at the late night, among other activities.

Phyllis Cheung, CEO of McDonald's China, introduced the new product ,which took nearly one year and a half to conduct research, menu development and taste testing and finally, a blind test participated by more than 600 people to arrive at the final decision to roll it out.

Speaking on incentives to hold livestreaming launch on Bilibili, Cheung said McDonald's has always been a young brand, focusing on generation Z.

They consider Bilibili as a channel to get engaged with youngsters who are tech-savvy and are interested in innovations.

The company said the sales of the new product on the first day have exceeded their expectations.

Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China, said due to the outbreak of COVID 19, retail and food service sector experienced severe challenges of reduced traffic and frequency, hence they have to strive to find growths to compensate for the earlier losses, Livestreaming is proving to be effective means to attract consumers attention as well as drive instant conservations.