Telling the Uplifting Story of How a True Friend Knows Your McDonald’s Order
McDonald’s has always been a brand selling comfort and emotion – especially through harder times. Recently the brand has been focusing on the joy McDonald’s created during the difficulties of covid. In their most recent project, McDonald’s wanted to focus on an uplifting and joyful campaign to confront difficulties such as the cost of living crisis.
Both DDB Vienna and McDonald’s felt that the purity of this campaign, and the familiarity of your regular McDonald’s order – with the desperation we sometimes feel for a Big Mac – reflected in this campaign. Mo faces difficulty after difficulty in order to find his friend Max, only to come back and find Max remembered his order, showing true friendship.
This campaign is brought to life through realistic sets and backgrounds, whilst also being inspired by running scenes in action movies. With comedy added throughout, watching Mo’s treacherous run to catch up to his friend proves – once again – that McDonald’s will always be a comfort.
McDonald’s leaves us to question, ‘Do I know my best friend’s McDonald’s order?...’
LBB’s Amelie Cooper chats to the team at DDB Vienna, including chief creative officers Andreas Spielvogel and Thomas Tatzl, as well as Sonja Dirnböck, head of marketing at McDonald’s Austria, to find how this story came together.
LBB> How did you decide to create this campaign, and what helped you to get the idea?
Thim> After three successful emotional campaigns through the tough years of covid, we wanted to tell a joyful story about everyday people and everyday moments. With this as our guiding principle, we decided to remind our consumers of the spark of joy a visit to McDonald’s brings to everyone – turning an everyday moment golden.
McDonald's wanted to build on the success of the last three brand spots by telling a new story from life – this time based on a strong fan truth, an insight, grounded in our everyday life with everyday people, but uniquely connected with the brand McDonald’s, told in a joyful and entertaining way that only McDonald's can do.
The fan truth that fuelled this campaign: “True friends know their friend’s favourite McDonald’s order.” This incredibly comprehensible thought became the leading principle of our entire campaign and has the potential to inspire and to move people to consider the brand more often and bring McDonald’s back to the top of mind in Austria.
LBB> What was most important for McDonald’s to prioritise in the campaign?
Andreas> It was important for us to tell a joyful uplifting story of everyday moments. It was of utmost importance to McDonald's to be a recognisable part of people's lives and to prove this companionship in a joyful way with a clear fan truth.
LBB> The shots of the friend running are really funny. What was the key to the comedy?
Thomas> There was a lot of thought put into the two characters Max and Mo, their friendship and the absolute emotional (and physical) roller coaster that Mo goes through to get to Max and to get his Macci order. The shots of Mo frantically running compared to Max enjoying his car ride made Mo’s panic funnier.
Mo’s actions were inspired by typical chase scenes that all of us have enjoyed in the movies. In times of changing crises and difficult upheavals, McDonald's wants to emphasise the positive in everyday life and ensure joy in and with this campaign in an ownable but entertaining way. Because we are convinced that people want to see positive signs, especially in times of bad news – and that is exactly what we, at McDonald's, stand for.
LBB> Why was it so important to focus on the warmth of friendship, and the comfort that McDonald’s can bring?
Andreas> Austrians are bouncing from crisis to crisis, totally fed up with the endless bad news and feeling like life's just passing them by. They're itching for some fun, an uplift, some joy, and are getting creative with how they cope, looking for those moments of joy amidst the chaos.
Being a brand that is like a friend by your side – that's what McDonald's has always stood for. This makes it even more important to position the McDonald's brand as the companion that is always there for you like a true friend in times when loyalty and faithfulness are becoming less and less important and people are longing for stability and closeness.
LBB> How does this campaign fit in with other McDonald’s ads, and what was important to keep a sense of familiarity within this?
Thomas> McDonald’s fans love the brand for many reasons – for its ease and convenience as well as for the unmistakable Macci taste. This campaign fits in as a good reminder of how McDonald’s has the power to turn everyday moments golden.
Sonja> The campaign aims to convey that true friends know each other’s McDonald’s orders, even without having to ask. The strategy aligns with our brand proposition, which aims to show that the brand has the power to turn everyday moments golden.
LBB> Micky Suelzer was the director for this, how did you choose him?
Andreas> Finding the perfect director for a story like this is no easy task. That's why we deliberately went international and looked for the best partners who stand for emotional storytelling on the one hand and who can realise this story with all the special humour it needs without going over the top on the other.
Thomas> In Mickey, we have found a director who brings these two things together perfectly and guarantees international flair as well as the highest level of performance. In intensive discussions with him, we realised the story in detail in a credible, surprising and emotionally gripping way.
LBB> Tell us about your time on set. How long did this take to film, and how did the ideas come about in the moment?
Andreas> Three intensive days packed with action – together with Mickey as director and Ekkehart Pollack at the camera, we were able to turn a rich script into reality with the utmost concentration. We deliberately shot in Vienna because it is important for us to make films sustainably, i.e. on location, so to speak. Of course, this requires the flexibility needed to allow spontaneous scenes that give the film added value from real life by reacting to current circumstances and including surprising scenes here and there that actually happen behind the scenes as a gift in the film. The film team also made perfect use of this potential.
LBB> How have people responded to the campaign so far?
Thomas> The spot just started airing last week and we are waiting for first results. But it's no secret that Austrians particularly love spontaneous humour and situation comedy. All the more reason for us to receive a lot of feedback that this funny, joyful approach touches people's hearts and puts a smile on their faces.
This connection between the brand and the lightness of everyday life, which tells a story of true friendship in a surprising context, brings just the right amount of humour to advertising that times like these need.
