McDonald’s marketing magic?

Have you seen the latest McDonald’s ad?

It starts with a woman walking through an office, signalling to her work colleagues that its time to grab a McDonald’s. Except no words are spoken.

She communicates only through raising her eyebrows or perhaps we should say ‘raising her arches’.

One by one the whole office follows, on a mission to get their McDonald’s fix.

But why is this ad so interesting and how does it relate to the High Fat Salt and Sugar (HFSS) legislation in the UK?

Well, the answer lies in the lack of product.

McDonald’s, a brand synonymous for it’s burgers and fries, features no product at all in this campaign.

This allows the brand to remain HFSS compliant as the legislation permits brands to advertise before 9pm so long as there are no images of HFSS food and drink.

On the On Strategy Podcast, Fergus O’Carroll invited Tom Sussman, Head of Strategy and Jo Beveridge, Planning Director, of Leo Burnett, London, to discuss the campaign in more detail.

Sussan and Beveridge explained that before creating the ad, they underwent in-depth market research with real customers to find out what McDonald’s meant to them.

From this they discovered that going to McDonald’s represented a ‘sod it’ moment.

Realising this could be developed further, the team looked at the behaviour and language used when customers described these moments.

They then realised that these moments were often unspoken, underpinned by comedy, and were accompanied by raised eyebrows.

It was at this point they realised they had struck ‘magic’ and began to form the creative.

But does this work for all brands?

Sussman and Beveridge explained that this approach only works when brands have made significant investment over time into creating distinctive brand assets.

McDonald’s are part of a group of brands that are universally identifiable and can connect with their audience without uttering one single word. Other brands in this club include Nike, Cadbury’s, Coca Cola etc.

This is an interesting example of how a brand has evolved their marketing strategy in order to comply with the HFSS legislation. I’ll be keeping an eye on how others respond.