Before you go hunting for new material, it pays to look right at your feet. Something customers are already gossiping about and naming on their own—simply promote it to “official” instead of denying it, and it becomes a powerful talking point. In 2026, McDonald’s proved it with a decades-old urban legend.
In early 2026, McDonald’s officially recognized “The Secret Menu” for the first time ever, in the UK. “McDonald’s has a secret menu”—an urban legend fans had whispered for decades, yet the company had never once acknowledged. McDonald’s turned this to its advantage: it made in-store kiosk screens briefly “glitch,” hid secret messages in posters, and deliberately leaked information to creators to stoke the rumor first, then tied it into an official announcement. Menu items fans had long fantasized about, like the Surf N’ Turf burger, actually appeared.
Why it worked
The clever part was carrying the paradox of “secrecy” all the way through the media design. By deliberately placing clues in hard-to-find spots, whoever found them wanted to share the “discovery.” And above all, the fans who had been the protagonists of that rumor for years got to be the stars at the moment it became official. Rather than a company pushing a new product down from above, the company picked up a story its customers had cultivated—this reversal of who leads and who follows generated heat and spread.
How a small business can use this
Look for anything around your business that customers are gossiping about, naming, or using in their own way. The “off-menu service” only regulars know about, a nickname coined on social media, an unexpected use case—don’t be shy; promote it to an “official menu” or an “official name.” For example, laminate and post the off-menu item regulars order, and make it official. Deliberately plant supporting clues in inconspicuous spots in the store and turn finding them into a game. The moment customers see the culture they cultivated themselves get official recognition, they become your most passionate promoters.
“Which ‘rumor’ could we make official?”—ASTER keeps a stock of reusable structures drawn from hundreds of cases, and translates them into your products and hiring challenges to turn them into concrete plans. Feel free to get in touch.
