LONDON, UK — McDonald’s and Leo Burnett UK have collaborated with 16 to 24-year olds to create a campaign that celebrates the brand’s authentic role in British youth culture. It showcases the unique way young adults have naturally taken ownership of the brand and celebrates the many ways they have made an invite to McDonald’s all their own.
As well as working with an ongoing collaborative panel of young people, McDonald’s has been connecting with youth workers and youth projects across the country to provide access to welcoming and safe spaces. The key finding: young adults from across the nation see McDonald’s as one of the only public places they can really take ownership of.
The resulting campaign shows no food, no restaurants, and never even mentions McDonald’s by name, instead focusing on the insight that young adults own the invite to McDonald’s by creating their own personal nicknames for the brand. The work spans TV, OOH and social executions.
The 60-second hero film, directed by Iconoclast, shows a chain reaction of young adults across the country inviting each other to McDonald’s. Each young adult uses their moniker for the brand, ranging from “Maccers” to “McDizzles,” to nicknames signed in British Sign Language.
McDonald’s and Leo Burnett also invited young adults to take ownership of other brand elements across social channels. They’ve co-authored with the audience, through Street Interview style BTS content, where young cast members express how they take ownership over the brand. Alongside this, McDonald’s have released a set of stickers, so young adults can customize their own invites to McDonald’s and send them onto their friends.
The OOH campaign will bring the nicknames for McDonald’s to life in a fresh evolution of the brand’s visual identity, across outdoor sites between the hours of 4:00 to 6:00 pm.
Leo Burnett partnered with youth empowerment network We Rise Limited, organizing workshops which enabled 14 young adults to co-create all aspects of the campaign. To ensure the campaign would resonate authentically with young adult audiences across the UK, Leo Burnett conducted community research with The Diversity Standards Collective.
Media was planned and bought by OMD UK, and PR was managed by Red Consultancy.
Matt Reischauer, Marketing Director at McDonald’s, said: “When the team first presented this idea I was filled with joy, because it’s not always easy to be young. This is especially true today, with an increased lack of provisions and spaces for our young people. This campaign celebrates their wit, charm, and sometimes awkward realities and we are frankly honored to be a place they choose to spend time together, where they can be themselves.”
Andrew Long and James Millers, Executive Creative Directors at Leo Burnett UK, shared: “Whether it’s Maccers, McD’s or even McDizzles, young adults all have their own slang for McDonald’s. This latest campaign celebrates that fan truth in a truly populist way, that we’ve co-created with our audience every step of the process.”
Credits:
CAMPAIGN TITLE: “Make it Yours”
CLIENT: McDonald’s
ADVERTISING AGENCY: Leo Burnett UK
CCO: Mark Elwood
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Andrew Long, James Millers
CREATIVES: Jas Nandoo, Georgette Fischer
CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF DESIGN: Dave Allen
STUDIO DIRECTOR: Richard Pettiford
DESIGNER: Danny Flint
MOTION DESIGN DIRECTOR: Carmen Perez Jimenez
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER: Alex Dougan
DEPUTY CSO: Tom Sussman
SENIOR PLANNER: Alexandra Arnold-Jones
SOCIAL STRATEGIST: Benjamin Obadia
HEAD OF ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT: Steph Bates
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Charlotte Crawley
ACCOUNT MANAGER: Jan Nikawala
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Dom Thomas
CHIEF PRODUCTION OFFICER: Emily Marr
AGENCY PRODUCER: Peter Williams
ASSISTANT AGNECY PRODUCER: Sara Gill
MANAGING DIRECTOR/EP: Jean Mougin
MANAGING DIRECTOR/EP: Guy Rolfe
HEAD OF PRODUCTION: Beatrice Warren
PRODUCER: Luke Plaister
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Marian Mikhail
1st AD: Benji Edwards
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Albert Salas
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: James Hatt
COSTUME DESIGNER: Verity May Lane
CASTING: Road Casting
EDIT HOUSE: Trim
EDITOR: Tom Lindsay
EDIT PRODUCER: Pia Ebrill
VFX: Black Kite Studios
COLOUR: George K
VFX LEAD: Matthew Hutchins
VFX: Itay Greenberg & Guy Penwill
DESIGN: Paul Mackay-Thomas & Diogo Gil
VFX PRODUCER: Holly Tidwell & Hannah Ruddleston
AUDIO POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY: Factory
SOUND DESIGNER: Jack Hallett
AUDIO PRODUCER: Ciara Wakley
MUSIC SUPERVISION: Sharpa
MUSIC SUPERVISORS: Paul Goodban & Sharan Gill
CONTENT PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: Yiani Andrikidis
McDonald’s Brand Team:
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, S.V.P: Michelle Graham-Clare
MARKETING DIRECTOR: Matt Reischauer
HEAD OF MARKETING, BRAND: Hannah Pain & Chloe Bissell
MARKETING MANAGER: Emma O’Neill
BRAND MANAGER: Emma Pellegrinelli
CAMPAIGN ASSISTANT: Abi Campbell
Agency Partners
MEDIA: OMD UK
PR: RED
