Earlier this year, it seemed like social media was completely taken over by videos of Travis Scott fans blasting Sicko Mode at the McDonald's drive-thru. His branded meal at McDonald's was a total sensation, leading to supply shortages at some restaurants and just generally huge buzz. But it turns out Travis gained a lot from the deal too: According to Forbes, the whole deal earned him about $20 million.
Travis spoke to Forbes a bit about how the deal came to be in a profile for their "30 under 30" issue. The chain apparently spotted him eating at McDonald's on his Instagram story and reached out to him about a potential partnership, wanting to boost sales amid the pandemic.
“Travis is a cultural icon,” vice president of U.S. marketing for McDonald’s Jennifer Healan told the publication.
They floated the idea of a branded meal, and Travis suggested one based on his actual order, one that he has been eating since he was a kid. This is the meal that actually made its way to the menu and became a social media sensation: a medium Sprite, a Quarter Pounder with bacon, and fries with barbecue sauce on the side.
The profile shows just how involved Travis was in making the partnership a success, doing everything from hand-drawing animations for the TV commercial advertising the meal and even writing parts of its script. Travis also proved his business smarts by negotiating the full rights to and developing a McDonald's-inspired merchandise line, which included our favorite McNugget-shaped body pillow.
And the rest we know was an instant success for Travis and McDonald's. Forbes estimated that Travis "earned at least $5 million from the traditional endorsement part of the deal and another $15 million from merchandise sales," totaling an estimated $20 million or more. McDonald's, for its part, went from an 8.7 percent drop in same-store sales in the second quarter to a 4.6 percent gain in the third quarter, which is when Travis's meal came into the picture.
