Clever Posters Demonstrate how People Navigate Cities Using McDonald’s Restaurants

A new Russian poster campaign for McDonald’s highlights a benefit of the fast food brand’s globally iconic logo that’s not often discussed - its value as a universal landmark to help people navigate.

To show the way tourists and locals use McDonald's as a landmark and a reference point to help them get around cities, the designs by Leo Burnett Moscow reconstruct routes to the most popular tourist sights in five cities, turning the posters into simple maps. A key waypoint on each route is a McDonald’s restaurant because, of course, no matter what city you’re exploring, there is likely a McDonald’s nearby.

In five executions that play on the makeshift maps people often draw on napkins, receipts or coffee cups, the campaign helps direct people to the Ming Palace in Nanjing, China, Westminster Cathedral in London, UK, the Duomo in Milan, Italy, the Flatiron Building in New York City, USA, and the Louvre in Paris, France.