McDonald's Australia's Creative Account Goes to Pitch

McDonald's has put a portion of its Australian creative account up for pitch, searching among its existing global roster to decide on an "additional creative agency partner" to add the Australian market to its remit.

McDonald's has worked with DDB since it entered the Australian market 53 years ago. LBB understands the McCafé and Chicken streams of business are up for pitch, with DDB remaining the brand's Australian agency of record.

The Aden Hepburn-led Akcelo works on the business' retail and activation work in Australia. All up, the local business is worth roughly $15 million, LBB understands, including creative, retail, and PR.

Globally, the McDonald's creative agency line-up includes Leo Burnett in the UK, Wieden & Kennedy and Droga5 in the US, TBWA in Europe and Asia, and DDB in New Zealand.

In a statement to LBB, a McDonald's Australia spokesperson confirmed "we are currently recruiting for an additional creative agency partner from our existing global agency roster."

"The successful agency will become part of our award-winning agency village, as we look to deliver highly effective and culturally relevant campaigns that drive our brand and business forward," the spokesperson said.

"It is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure we have the best partners and capabilities in place and follows on from our recently completed CRM pitch process earlier in the year."

Publicis' Digitas has retained the CRM business.

The brand said the creative pitch should be completed before the end of the year. Mango, part of DDB Group, handles McDonald's Australia's PR, and Omnicom stablemate OMD is the brand's local media agency.

Earlier this month, Akcelo launched the Grimace shake in Australia with an integrated campaign. DDB recently launched a social content series for McCafé as part of its Paralympics campaign - which LBB recognised among the best AUNZ work of September - and debuted AI-powered Chicken McNuggets.

In July, Jack Nunn returned to DDB Sydney to lead the Macca's account as creative partner.