McDonald's: How insights led to McDonald’s most popular campaign ever

McDonald's commissioned The Outsider who are renowned for their expertise in working with underrepresented audiences to rejuvenate the connection with British customers by identifying the universal pressures that mainstream audiences face, understanding how the brand relieves these pressures and identifying invitation stories.

Summary

In 2022, McDonald's faced two problems.

First, their famous 'Love' advertising was losing emotional impact. Second, incoming legislation would soon radically restrict any such communications for high-in-fat, -salt, and -sugar (HFSS) products.

They needed a new approach: one that could rejuvenate the connection between British customers and the brand, without showing a single product.

Faced with this challenge, they engaged The Outsiders to find a new emotional role for McDonald's in British life.

We conducted three phases of research:

  1. Data review and analysis - of the pressures felt by the mass-mainstream audience
  2. Focus groups -exploring consumers' stories...

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Insights Team
Bray Leino

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