Feb. 18, 2026 "McDonald’s Canada launches late-night meal collab with Drake brand OVO": Today I found this article by Tara Deschamps on BNN Bloomberg:
TORONTO — McDonald’s Canada has cooked up a collaboration with rapper Drake’s brand.
The fast-food giant has launched a new late-night munchies meal with OVO.
The star of the meal is the Nite Sprite,
which mixes Sprite
with blue raspberry syrup
and comes in a black paper cup with the OVO owl on it.
It is being sold alone or as part of the Afters meal, which also includes
a Junior Chicken
or a McDouble
paired with a poutine.
The meal was teased with cryptic posters bearing only the OVO and McDonald’s branding last week but was quietly released with no further marketing from either brand Tuesday.
By Wednesday, eBay had at least a dozen listings for the cups, which were mostly priced under $40.
Some consumers were also on social media complaining they ordered the meal or Nite Sprite and the drink had been served to them in a regular cup instead of the co-branded one.
The meal makes no mention of Drake, who has long been celebrated in Canada because of his Toronto upbringing, music and early fame on the TV franchise “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” but has garnered less favourable attention lately.
He has released little new music, fallen off the Billboard Hot 100 chart and feuded with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar, making the McDonald’s collaboration a test of how enduring Drake’s popularity is.
While McDonald’s is still a giant in the fast-food world, it has also faced criticism in recent years with customers complaining that dining at the chain is becoming too expensive.
“If you’re that consumer, you’re driving up to the restaurant and you’re seeing
combo meals could be priced over $10
and that absolutely is
shaping value perceptions
and shaping value perceptions in a negative way,”
McDonald’s global CEO Christopher Kempczinski conceded on an earnings call last year.
“We’ve got to get that fixed.”
In response, the company has been trying to offer more value items
and recently froze the price of a cup of coffee at $1
and some of its meals at $5 for at least the next year.
But to drive sales,
cultivate new customers
and upsell existing patrons
in an ultracompetitive,
cost-sensitive environment,
it’s also turned to the popular partnerships playbook.
McDonald’s Canada collaborated with
country star Shania Twain
and the animated Grinch brand
on meals last year that came with cowgirl key chains and socks, respectively.
Competitors countered.
Tim Hortons made breakfast boxes with actor Ryan Reynolds,
Burger King offered a SpongeBob-themed meal
and Wendy’s offered menu items inspired by the Wednesday TV show.
The OVO partnership targets late-night sales,
but the meal will be sold at lunch and dinner as well.
Customers during the later part of the day are harder to lure in because
many dine at home
or opt for eats at full-service restaurants or bars.
However, these customers can often be enticed into spending more than someone popping in for a breakfast or snack earlier in the day.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
Apr. 28, 2026 "Move over Big Mac: McDonald's Canada taps beverage craze with new drinks line-up": Today I found this article by Tara Deschamps on BNN Bloomberg:
TORONTO — Your next drink order from McDonald’s Canada may come in a frosty cup all but glowing from its fluorescence or brimming with a layer of foam thick enough to give you a milk moustache.
The fast-food giant is reimagining the drink menu you grew up with in favour of a new roster launching May 5. It will keep the classics — pop, coffee, tea, milk and juice —
but position
crafted sodas,
fruity refreshers
and foamy iced coffees
as new, permanent cornerstones.
The focus on
fruit,
froth
and carbonation
is meant to tap into a category the chain considers to be the Canadian quick-service industry’s fastest growing and turn McDonald’s into a restaurant people think of for more than Big Macs, fries or nuggets.
“We want to become a beverage destination,” McDonald’s Canada president Annemarie Swijtink told The Canadian Press.
“Instead of a drink next to food, it’s more like if you want a beverage, think about us.”
If it works, the strategy will lure in
a younger generation that lets social media guide eating habits
and push those less beholden to the scroll toward trendier beverages that can supercharge profits.
It will also place the company in more direct competition with
frappuccino haven Starbucks
and Tim Hortons, which has long sold Iced Capps and more recently,
introduced fruity quenchers,
energy drinks
and fancier iced coffees.
Swijtink knows her company has been slower to the punch but maintains it was because the chain needed to
intensely study consumer preferences
and figure out how best to cater to them.
“Sometimes we are a little bit late to the party,
but I think we are the best guests of the party,”
she said.
The first of the new menu’s stars are
“crafted sodas”
— drinks with pop as a base,
flavoured syrup mixed in
and foam on top.
They will come in combinations like
Sprite Berry Bliss,
Orange Dream
and Creamy Strawberry Coke.
The drinks, often called dirty sodas, were popularized by
“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
The reality show’s cast members frequent U.S. dirty soda chain Swig because Mormons don’t drink alcohol, coffee or tea but can have pop.
The second menu tentpole will be refreshers
— lemonade-based drinks mixed with
mango,
pineapple,
watermelon,
blackberry
and passion fruit flavours.
They sometimes include
freeze-dried strawberries
or pearls that burst with juice when popped.
The final cornerstone is iced coffees in flavours like
French vanilla
and salted caramel
and topped with cold foam.
The new drinks will range from
$2.49 plus tax for a small iced coffee
to $4.19 before tax for a large refresher or crafted soda.
The company’s drink pivot didn’t come overnight. It launched spinoff restaurant CosMc’s in 2023 to test
specialty lemonades
and teas,
blended beverages
and cold coffees.
In Canada, it sold Sprite with blue raspberry syrup this past February as part of a collaboration with Drake’s brand OVO.
The new drink menu is an evolution of those pilots appealing to everyone from gen Z to soccer moms pressed for time and hooked on fountain pop or iced coffee, said Searchlight Marketing founder Cindy Syracuse.
While she wasn’t briefed on the Canadian announcement,
a recent McDonald’s U.S. menu reveal earlier showed many of the drinks will also be sold south of the border.
Syracuse thinks they’ll squeeze extra cash out of cost-conscious customers and those increasingly critical of meal combos that have crept well north of $10.
McDonald’s has responded by freezing the price of a small cup of coffee at $1 for at least a year
and dropping McValue meal prices,
which have small sandwiches, fries and fountain drinks, to $5 for the same duration.
It will soon bring its $1 soda and iced coffee promotion back for the 17th summer in a row.
“Now the franchisees will say,
‘OK, I can offer my $5 value meal
because I’ve just picked up this incremental profit from the dirty sodas,’”
Syracuse said.
“It’s a very, very smart strategic move on how to
build penny profit
and build your margins.”
For another boost, Syracuse, who is also a former Burger King marketer and Firehouse Subs franchisee, expects McDonald’s to dabble next with beverages marketed for wellness and drink additives like creatine and electrolytes.
In the U.S., it’s also launching an energy drink. While that didn’t make it to Canada, Swijtink isn’t ruling out the possibility.
“This is the line we are starting with,” she said.
“We are following trends
and we will learn also from other countries and global, if we want to introduce energizers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2026.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
My opinion: This part stood out to me the most:
"The drinks, often called dirty sodas, were popularized by
'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.'
The reality show’s cast members frequent U.S. dirty soda chain Swig because Mormons don’t drink alcohol, coffee or tea but can have pop."
I was telling this to my little brother P.
Tracy: The dirty sodas were on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
P: Yeah, because Mormons can't drink alcohol and coffee, but they can drink pop.
I thought it was funny that P knows that part about Mormons.
My week:
Tues. Apr. 28, 2026:
LEO would like to know:
Do you follow F1 races?
No
81.40% (5535)
Yes, some races
10.40% (707)
Yes, all the races
5.04% (343)
Only the finale
3.16% (215)
My opinion: No.
Fri. May. 1, 2026:
Aalia C, Calgary, Alberta, would like to know:
Have you ever consider moving out to another country?
No
62.75% (1481)
Yes
37.25% (879)
My opinion: Yes.
Sat. May 2, 2026
Léna L, Ascot Corner, Québec, would like to know:
Do you like gift cards?
Yes
83.46% (3077)
No
16.54% (610)
My opinion: Yes.
Fri. May 1, 2026 Supercrunch: This restaurant that sells glazed fruit on sticks is going to open in West Edmonton Mall in Jun. 2026:
"FYA" - by BTS: This is like my new favorite song. I can dance wild and crazy to this. I'm dancing hard with high energy.
I like these lyrics. (Jungkook sings it.)
Gimme that gasoline
Gimme that, make me fiend
Gimme that, make me sweat
Something I can't forget
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zUEFoHeIoQ
[4K] 260409 FYA - FIRE 🔴🔴🔴 #ARIRANG BTS WORLD TOUR IN GOYANG 방탄소년단
Here they are performing live with pyrotechnics.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QeM73qdKRmg
My opinion: When I was watching that 2:04 -2:21 part with Jungkook dancing. He was pretty good.
@user-cb7wp3dx3r
3 weeks ago