Responses by Corentin Salignat, creative director, TBWA\Paris.
Background: Every year, it’s the same story. Winter pulls us into its routine and, before we even realize it, one day suddenly arrives: the sun is out, it’s warm, and all we can think about is having an ice cream. Summer is here.
But at McDonald’s, ice cream is available all year round. That’s exactly what the brand wanted to remind the widest possible audience—summer isn’t the only reason to crave a frozen treat.
Design core: A very simple, almost analytical observation of human behavior. Ice cream is one of those occasional indulgences we allow ourselves because we want to treat ourselves and feel we’ve deserved it. At the same time, it’s also the ultimate comfort food, the one you see in rom-com movies with its main characters eating straight from the tub with oversized spoonfuls while watching a sad movie after a breakup.
We wanted to capture that duality to show that every occasion is a good occasion for an ice cream, whether it’s to celebrate a win or a feel-good moment or to soften a bad moment or a losing streak. The trick is that, sometimes, it only takes one tiny change to turn one situation into its complete opposite. Just one word.
Challenge: Finding situations that could become complete opposites by changing or adding just one word or contrasting two words that sound almost identical.
Time constraints: We worked within one simple but important constraint—the food had to remain the hero of every execution. As we all know, great ideas often come from constraints. This idea had even more constraints: showing the exact same ice cream not once but twice.
Favorite details: Working for one of the world’s biggest brands means constantly challenging ourselves to stay as culturally relevant as possible. It requires us to rethink the way we work, making sure every touchpoint connects with the way people actually communicate today especially on social media.
This idea is inherently social-first. Take it off a billboard and post it on Instagram, and it instantly becomes a meme. You can easily imagine people making it their own by writing their own versions, which is exactly what happened in some comments. It feels natural, intuitive and genuinely adaptable across different topics, situations and styles of writing.
Alternate paths: Maybe we could have added a third ice cream. Haha.
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