How did a single dipping sauce become the topic of an entire podcast?
I wrote and hosted The Sauce, a podcast that tells the story of the day McDonald's infamously botched a limited release of its Szechuan Sauce, angering Rick & Morty fans around the country.
The project was a collaboration between Onion Labs, Studio@Gizmodo, and McDonald's, and features interviews with McDonald's executives and chefs, passionate Rick & Morty fans, and one guy who just really, really loves McDonald's Szechuan Sauce.
The Sauce won a Webby!
Sure, awards are meaningless incentives designed by capitalism to keep us shackled to our desks in the name of friendly competition, but The Sauce won the People’s Choice Webby Award for Best Branded Podcast in 2019, and I think that’s pretty sweet.
And was featured in the New York Times.
NYT writer David Yaffe-Bellaney dove into the world of branded podcasts for his article titled “Welcome to McDonald’s. Would You Like a Podcast With Those Fries?”
The story features The Sauce as a branded podcast success story, and I was lucky enough to be quoted alongside some very smart people leading the podcast industry.
Check out all three full episodes of the podcast below:
“The podcast’s three episodes — “Good Intentions,” “The Szechuan Sauce Riots,” and “Making Amends” — take a few pokes at mystery/true-crime podcasts such as ”Serial” and “S-Town,” as host Catherine LeClair gravely digs into the furor surrounding the consequential condiment.”
“McDonald’s worked with the Studio@Gizmodo and Onion Labs on the podcast, which made its way into the iTunes 100 podcast chart, peaking at number No. 94 less than 24 hours after its release.”
“Hosted by Catherine LeClair, this lighthearted investigative series will dip into production on the millions of packets that are making their way around the country, as well as how Deadmau5 was able to acquire a half gallon of it, despite not being Justin Roiland.”
“The show comes with the facetious billing of an “investigative series,” a tongue-in-cheek posture reminiscent of The Onion’s recent stab at lampooning the true crime podcast genre, A Very Fatal Murder. ”