2015 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

The key challenge was to convince the client to focus on the ingredients in isolation, rather than showing the finished products in their entirety. This approach allowed us to celebrate each ingredient as its own entity, and relay the message of a universally recognized product through its constituent parts. By insisting on a minimalistic approach, we were able to explore territory beyond the wallpaper of conventional food communication.

The Brief

People love McDonald's products, but are often unaware of the actual ingredients that go into making them. McDonald's tasked us to glorify the ingredients of three of its iconic products, the Cheeseburger, McChicken and Big Mac, and celebrate these ingredients as individual reference points of excellence. Once combined, the ingredients produce a food item that sets a universal standard within the category.

How the final design was conceived

Having established the correlation between the universality of McDonald's products with the universality of Pantone, the Design journey was defined by framing each ingredient in such a way that no one constituent part was more important than the other. The balance of the Design strove to reflect the harmony with which the ingredients complimented each other to create the complete final product. Photography of the actual ingredients that go into the McDonalds products gave each McDonalds color code the realism needed to explore respective food texture in depth.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The insertions received positive praise on their novel interpretation of a quality ingredient ad. It resonated well with professionals in the Advertising trade due to the language used and the use of Pantones.

As a leader in the Quick Service Restaurant category, McDonald's is constantly under scrutiny for its food quality which places a great deal of strain on its perception. More than ever people, particularly mothers, care about what they and their families eat and where their food comes from. As a result, McDonald's is a brand that puts a lot of effort behind ensuring the cleanliness and quality of their ingredients and spares no effort to be 100% transparent with their customers, ranging from the bold step of placing nutritional information on packaging to sharing videos of food from farm to tray.