Northern touch

Happy Meals started in U.S. 15 years before coming here

Canadian meals haven’t always been as happy as the U.S. versions,

McDonald’s Canada has had a successful run with Happy Meals for more than two decades — but they started 15 years after the U.S. corporate headquarters launched their booming toy business.

By then, McDonald’s Canada restaurants had officially gone smokefree, were just about to open the first PlayPlace in Niagara Falls, Ont. The first toys in Canada’s Happy Meals were Cabbage Patch toys and Tonka trucks in 1994.

“Family is the DNA of the brand,” said Michelle McIlmoyle, senior national marketing manager for McDonald’s Canada, who worked on the launch of Happy Meals back then in a more junior role.

“It was a big venture for us,” she recalled. “There was a learning curve with the logistics, but we had the infrastructure to handle it.”

She says the recent Minions promotion was hugely successful north of the border. Before that, Smurfs, Nerf toys and Teeny Beanie Babies have been huge hits here.

Mainly because of shared supply chains and cross-border advertising, Canada follows the U.S. program and gets the same toys in its Happy Meals delivered to stores across Canada.

But there have been a few exceptions of Canadian-themed toys.

McDonald’s came out with a line of sports-themed characters with interlocking train pieces for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. One offering of Barbie dolls had a Canadian swimsuit option.

And there have also been several releases of Zamboni toys to capitalize on Canadians’ passion for hockey, she says. “In general terms, kids like basic functionality. The toys don’t need to be super complex” to be successful, McIlmoyle said.

Another issue related to the Happy Meal in the U.S. that has drifted across the border concerns genderspecific toys. Parents with kids in tow at McDonald’s are usually asked if they want the boy or girl toy, which has had some people up in arms in recent years, due to the embarrassment it can cause a child if they want the other toy.

“It’s something we’re re-educating our (staff ) about,” says McIlmoyle.

Crews are being educated to ask people what toy they want by the name of the toy to make the process more gender neutral, she says.