McDonald's: SUPPLIER STORIES

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: McDONALD’S
Agency: DDB CHICAGO
Category: BEST INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN LED BY MOBILE
Acd/Art Director: Brian Trecka (DDB Chicago)
Creative Director: Cori Donohue (DDB Chicago)
Acd/Art Director: Warren Frost (DDB Chicago)
Integrated Creative Director: Alex Braxton (DDB Chicago)
Integrated Creative Director: Alistair Robertson (DDB Chicago)
Executive Creative Director: Bill Cimino (DDB Chicago)
Chief Creative Officer: Ewan Paterson (DDB Chicago)
Digital Platform Director: Justin Hood (DDB Chicago)
Acd/Art Director: Kathy Petrauskas (DDB Chicago)
Acd/Copywriter: Nick Marazza (DDB Chicago)
Community Manager: Emily Vanderbeek (DDB Chicago)
Creative Director: Nancy Jordan (DDB Chicago)
Brief Explanation
McDonald’s Supplier Stories – helping people feel good about eating McDonald’s Beginning in 2011, McDonald’s was subjected to some of the worst public scrutiny in the company’s history. Our biggest challenge to overcome was that of McDonald’s own corporate reputation - it was being damaged by one factor: consumers’ perceptions of our food. At a time when interest in "farm to fork," organic food, humane farming and concerns about healthy eating were higher than ever before, McDonald's had its back to the wall. While sales were still strong, perceptions of the brand were unraveling. For the first time in a decade, consumer sentiment about the brand had dropped sharply – with ratings about food quality and trustworthiness down on average 20% (Source: McDonald’s Brand Tracker 2011). Rumors and negativity were gaining traction – with news outlets running inaccurate stories about McDonald’s and “pink slime,” Michelle Obama reprimanding Olympians for eating McDonald’s food, and Michael Bloomberg making McDonald’s large sodas illegal in the state of New York. Amidst all of this, McDonald’s competitors were hammering home their “fresh” food alternatives.McDonald’s was obviously very concerned. While people were still eating the food, they were leaving the restaurant feeling guilty about what they had consumed. So with McDonald's menu seemingly disconnected from the everyday food in grocery stores, we helped McDonald’s make the bold choice of launching a campaign that explicitly avoided selling any products. But just resolving to boost the brand via a normal multi media campaign wasn’t going to be enough. McDonald’s growing audience of Millennials is now of course famously less engaged with mainstream mediums than previous generations. So we set about ensuring McDonald’s customers got the reassurance they needed to feel good about eating McDonald’s food at the time they really wanted it: while eating McDonald’s. And how better to deliver that message than straight to the mobile device. Beginning with mobile and then expanding across social, digital, TV and print, we provided all of McDonald’s many customers with a seamless, integrated experience that delivered the information they wanted inside a quality-driven brand campaign. And since launch the results have been inarguable. The latest research shows that almost 40% more people now agree that McDonald’s is food they can feel good about eating. Meaning that alongside being declared US Mobile Advertiser of the Year, (Source: Mobile Marketer 2012) McDonald’s is now more than ever lovin’ the of power mobile.