The digital menu icon on the corner of most websites is hamburger-shaped. The symbol is even called a hamburger menu and was created by the American interaction designer, Norm Cox, in 1981. In fact, it’s exactly McDonald’s Big Mac-shaped with its triple layers. McDonald’s Finland and NORD DDB have decided that it is a Big Mac. And that is the beginning of a very fun campaign.
Their 20-minute mockumentary, The Icon, follows two amateur sleuths, Kaitsu and Anna Maija, as they try to get to the truth behind the universally known ‘hamburger menu’ symbol. Kaitsu and his cameraman, Johan, even travel to Dallas, Texas, to meet Cox to confront him about his design in person.
“We see the three-lined hamburger button on almost every website, but which hamburger is it really?! Once you see it is a Big Mac, it is hard to unsee it. It’s funny how the mockumentary also describes the whole process of how we came up with the idea in the first place. This project has been all about curiosity and to keep pushing the idea even further,” stated Tero Ahonen, copywriter at NORD DDB Helsinki.
The campaign lives on YouTube but the mockumentary has also been cut down to shorter episodes and trailers, that will run on TikTok, in TV and cinema. To create engagement in relevant communities, Finnish TikTok profiles such as Joona Puhakka, Alsutiikeri and Johannes Mollberg are sharing the theory in their channels and a few conspiracy themed podcasts are also making episodes about the topic.
Additionally, McDonald’s Finland will invite everyone to take part in a treasure hunt for hamburger menu icons. People who find the symbol on a website and submit it in the McDonald’s app will be rewarded with a free Big Mac burger.
“Our goal was to create brand love and fandom, so we aimed to create a campaign which felt like it was made by, and for, the fans. Considering the wide audience, we implemented a full 360 approach – from TikTok to TV – to reach various target groups,” stated Mats Nyström, marketing director at McDonald’s Finland.
The main character Kaitsu also has his own TikTok and Instagram accounts where he vlogs about his and his partner’s findings and the whole journey to Texas to meet Norm Cox.
“The brief from McDonald’s was to create brand love and fandom using the brand’s Big Mac. We quite literally saw an opportunity to underline the burger’s icon status by showing that it is on most of the websites – also known as the hamburger menu button. We wanted to have an organic approach to this idea, to make it be about McDonald’s without it feeling like it was from McDonald’s. And what would be more of an organic approach than having a conspiracy theorist spread the word around the world?” commented Kalle Wallin, creative director at NORD DDB Helsinki.
