When you take away the logos, and everything else around the product shot, all there is to look at is the product. And when that product is food, you can do some very powerful suggesting. Food porn has wonderful powers to entice. The new instalment of McDonald’s and Leo Burnett’s Breakfast, done properly platform, puts the morning menu under a spotlight. Built around the idea that a McDonald’s Breakfast is so iconic it needs no explanation, the campaign strips away all logos from the ads, letting the food itself be the distinctive asset that communicates the brand.
McDonald’s has used same no logo idea in France several times since 2013. One campaign was a series of pixelated images of menu items, another showed extreme close-ups of portions of menu items as the UK campaign does.
The campaign follows concept research by Savanta’s McVue tool, that found that up to 90% of people correctly identified McDonald’s Breakfast products even when shown without branding. They’re instantly recognisable – no product names or logo required.
The campaign features a series of 30- and 10- films in which McDonald’s Breakfast is shown in its purest, most irresistible form. Set to cinematic music, each film lingers on close-ups of the Sausage & Egg McMuffin, Hash Brown, Egg & Cheese McMuffin or Breakfast Wrap, capturing the distinctive shapes that make McDonald’s Breakfast so famous. A voiceover explains how McDonald’s Breakfast needs no explanation without ever naming the products or the brand.
The full campaign will cover TV, OOH, radio, paid social, press, and in-store activations, disrupting media channels with the iconicity of McDonald’s Breakfast.
Across OOH, the campaign takes a minimal yet bold approach, with large, macro images of McDonald’s Breakfast dominating large-scale placements.
Radio executions use evocative language to prompt listeners to picture the breakfast they already have stored deep in their subconscious. “Think of a breakfast muffin with sausage and egg. Yep, that’s the one,” the voiceover coaxes. “Picture it now. Doesn’t it look delicious?” Listeners will be invited to visualise breakfast before stopping short of saying its name or the name of the brand.
In social the campaign will ensure McDonald’s Breakfast is front and centre on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, with looping macro shots of its breakfast items punctuating social feeds and stories.
For those who need a morning nudge, the campaign will extend to in-store screens, Drive-Thru kiosks, and CRM push notifications, ensuring McDonald’s Breakfast is top of mind at the perfect moment.
Matthew Reischauer, marketing director, McDonald’s UK & IE, stated, “McDonald’s Breakfast is a morning staple. This campaign is all about celebrating that built-in love, letting the food speak for itself, and reminding everyone why nothing else comes close.”
James Hodson & Jason Keet, creative directors, Leo Burnett UK, added,”There’s nothing on earth like a McDonald’s breakfast. You can spot a McMuffin from miles away. Think of a hash brown. We bet it’s a McDonald’s hash brown. So we thought our job was to just get out of the way. No logo. No product names. No catchy copy. Just the shapes and textures that we all know and love.”
Iconic needs no explanation is running across the UK from March 23 running for six weeks.
Credits
Client: McDonald’s
Chief Marketing Officer: Ben Fox
Marketing Director: Matthew Reischauer
Head Of Marketing – Food and Beverages: Ben Sherburn
Marketing Manager: Lucy Johnson
Senior Brand Manager: Josie Thompson-Green
Marketing Executive: Kai Mchugh
Consumer Insights Manager: Siddhi Suchak
Creative Agency: Leo Burnett
CCO: Mark Elwood
Executive Creative Directors: Andrew Long & James Millers
Creative Directors: Jason Keet & James Hodson
Creatives: Kerry Donnelly & Zoe Davies
Design Director: Phil Bosher
Designer: Georgia Glen
Planners: Ipeknaz Erel & Alexandra Arnold-Jones
Managing Partner: Layla Potter
Business Lead: Bella Bertolotti
Senior Account Director: Jessica Lyons
Senior Account Manager: Natasha Meisel
Account Executive: Zoe Buchalter
Senior Agency Producer: Jennifer Fewster
Media Buying Agency: OMD
Media Planners: Stephanie Holman, Holly Rosier, Reilly Sadowski-Synnott
AV + Macro OOH Production Company: Darling Films
Director: Scott Grummett
Producer: Kelly Doyle
Executive Producer: Clare Timms
Production Manager: Michaela Miesen
Director of Photography: Tim Green
Editor: Adam Rudd @ Whitehouse Post
Editor Producer: Annabel Bennett
Audio Post-Production Company: Harbor
Sound Design & Mix: George Castle
Audio Producer: Hannah Jarrold & Savannah King
Post-Production Company: Black Kite Studios
VFX Lead: Marcus Moffatt
Grade: George Kyriacou
Post Production Producer: Hazel Gibson
Music Track Finder: Native Music
Clearance: Sharpa
VI OOH Shoot
Design Director: Phil Bosher
Designer: Georgia Glen
Project Manager: Adrienne Lindeque
Photographer: Tina Hillar
Macro OOH Shoot
Design Director: Phil Bosher
Designer: Georgia Glen
Project Manager: Adrienne Lindeque
Photographer: Scott Grummett
