2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

SPICY MENU

BrandMCDONALD'S
Product/ServiceSPICY MENU
EntrantLEO BURNETT DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryTalent: Digital & Social
Idea Creation LEO BURNETT DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Placement STARCOM Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production STOKED FILMS Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production 2 ANGHAMI Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production 3 PIXEL MOB Beirut, LEBANON

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

Speak Spicy is not just a campaign that broke the clutter of spicy food advertisements using the sound of spicy food. Instead we turned it into music. We collaborated with musicians across the region and created original songs with ‘Speak Spicy’ and inspired a whole new sub-genre of Arab/English Hip Hop in the region.

Background

UAE is known to have a diverse set of food and culture. But there’s one trend that has been rapidly getting popular across all cuisines i.e., spicy food. To cater to the rising love for spicy food in the region, McDonald’s wanted to promote its Spicy Menu, bringing people’s attention to its spicy chicken range and serving them truly delicious spicy treats.

Describe the creative idea

We took the most natural reaction of our delicious spicy range i.e., the slurping sound, and turned it into a language. Through a series of films, we spiced up everyday conversations to show what McSpicy really sounds like. We noticed it started picking up as a trend. So we decided to go all the way and create music with it. We collaborated with hip hop artists across the region and created original songs with this unique slurping sound. Through films on TV, we reached out to our family audience. And through spicy songs we grew among the youth organically on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Describe the strategy

Our research showed that more that 80% of the people in the UAE prefer spicy food. That inspired us to delve further into the human behavior. Why do people like spicy food so much? Especially, when is causes a certain level of discomfort. We looked deep into our subjects and we realized that the power of taste is greater than any discomfort caused while consuming it. And that inspired us to take the sound of discomfort of a spicy slurp and own it as the sound of satisfaction our Spicy Menu could give.

Describe the execution

We created a series of films with everyday conversations and added the slurping sound to every dialogue. And then we took that sound to the studio and invited artists from across a region, such as Flipperachi, Randar, N1yah, Muhannad, Moh Flow, Lileazy, Menon and MT9, to write and record rap songs with our unique sound. We recorded music videos with each one of them and shared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and suddenly Speak Spicy became a trending style in the Hip Hop community.

Describe the outcome

When every other food brand used visuals and words, we chose the power of sound to promote our Spicy Menu. From social media to live events, our spicy flavours made music everywhere, making #SpeakSpicy a trending style of rap. Soon the internet witnessed a whole new sub-genre of hip-hop, giving us 195 million impressions and 6.6 million organic views. Our McDelivery page received 2.7 million visits. Sales increased by 38% generating over 48,000 online orders. With Speak Spicy, we gave people a whole new sound to play with. But above all we gave them the true satisfaction of delicious spicy food.

Credits

Name Company Role
Mohammed Bahmishan Leo Burnett Creative direction, ideation, copywriting
Tariq Ayass Leo Burnett Ideation and creative direction
Rodrigo Rodrigues Leo Burnett Head of art
Ayman Shehade Leo Burnett Arabic copywriting
Jihad Hteit Leo Burnett Graphic Design
Mohannad Awameh Leo Burnett Graphic Design
Ahmad Abu Zannad Leo Burnett Strategy
Shereen Mustafa Leo Burnett Production
Haytham Dayeh Leo Burnett Business Lead
Rami Itani Leo Burnett Communication Director
Mahmoud Jaber Leo Burnett Communication Supervisor
Ali Zghaibi Leo Burnett Communication Executive
Layal Hassi Starcom Regional Senior Media Manager
Taher Jawadwala Data Science Data Manager
Dany El Labban Starcom Regional Senior Media Manager
Kapil Bhimekar Leo Burnett Support
Diego Espinoza Leo Burnett Support
Sambhav Khandelwal Leo Burnett Support
Links
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