“Yes, great design and print ads are still a thing. McDonald’s continues to prove the power that arises from building a visually iconic brand over time. Beautiful enough to be a Mondo original, this is a message perfect for the times and does what an outdoor poster should; communicate clearly, quickly and memorably.” —Danny Robinson
“Arch-vertising has seen so many variations and winners, yet this one is refreshing as it is contextual and relevant to the moment.” —Deepesh Jha
An optimistic reminder to McDonald’s customers that as long as their lights were on at home, McDonald’s lights would be on too, to deliver those little lifts that are needed more than ever.
Responses by Andrew Long, creative director and copywriter, Leo Burnett:
How long have you been working with McDonald’s? We’re incredibly lucky because Leo Burnett has been working with McDonald’s for decades now. During that time, we have built up a brilliant partnership based on trust, which really shows in the creative work we produce together. Outdoor has always been a strong area for the brand, and over the years, there have been a long list of brilliant poster campaigns, so the bar we set for ourselves was high.
I love how you used both the color and shape of the iconic Golden Arches to represent food delivery and staying at home. How did you come up with these visual metaphors? The Golden Arches represent a beacon of joy for millions of people in Britain. We wanted to take that thought and create something that felt celebratory and optimistic. The simplicity of just using half of the logo to represent the delivery journey was neat and tidy. But for us, what really elevated this piece was using the same line to represent the customer at home as well. It made the brand and the occasion feel intrinsically linked, which is what it is all about with McDonald’s.
Where did the idea for this campaign come from? This wasn’t really an answer to a typical brief—more a proactive response to a specific moment in time. The United Kingdom had just been placed into another national lockdown, so the idea to find a confident yet humble way to let customers know that we were still here to deliver those little lifts they look forward to felt timely and relevant. The clients at McDonald’s are a brilliant team that truly believes in the power of creativity. Of course, there were discussions about how much logo we saw and if we should add the McDelivery icon. But in the end, we all knew the true impact of this piece comes from the confidence and understated simplicity of the message.
Was it challenging to implement an out-of-home campaign during periods of COVID lockdown? For better or worse, we’ve all adapted really quickly to the challenges of creating work during lockdown. We kept in constant communication with each other while we were in production, which helped a lot. The difficult thing with any form of craft work is that it is way more efficient when we’re sat with a designer, doing the endless nudging, sizing and experimentation that makes something perfect. That process is inevitably a little more disconnected, but with a little extra effort and complete trust in each other, we can still get to the right end result with no compromises.
Where did the campaign run, and what has been the response? The campaign ran across the United Kingdom and the response has been truly amazing. We’re all incredibly humbled by the number of creative awards it has received, but what really makes us happy was seeing the reaction from the public who would tweet about it, snap pictures or even request prints for their homes. We believe in populist work at Leo, and the fact that this campaign captured the imagination of the nation—as well as the juries’—is the perfect outcome.
