Hasta La Creative!

Leo Burnett is unveiling McDonald’s “My Burger” campaign today, as the chain announces that five crowd-sourced burgers are being made available in the UK.

“My Burger” truly began back in May, with McDonald’s calling upon consumers to submit burger ideas through an online “burger builder” created by digital agency Razorfish. Entrants combined a beef patty with their choices from over 80 ingredients for toppings. The most popular burgers were then assessed by a panel including English rugby legend and Celebrity MasterChef winner Phil Vickery and McDonald’s Managing Director Mark Hawthorne, who chose the ultimate five winners. Leo Burnett’s documentary- style campaign introduces the winning burgers by way of some almost-winners who either went a step too far with their ingredients or, in one case, had the same ingredients as the winning burger but forgot to submit. The five winning burgers will each be featured on the menu for one week before the next winner is introduced. They include the “Big Uno,” “The Sweet Chili Fiesta,” “The Ultimate Supreme” “The McPizza Pepperoni Burger,” and “The Big Spicy Bacon.” The “Big Uno” launches today, and the promotion will end with “The Big Spicy Bacon Burger” from November 12-18. (more…)

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Today Leo Burnett’s London office launched a new campaign celebrating the 40th anniversary of McDonald’s arrival in the UK.

The campaign aims to portray the important moments in people’s lives…that just happened to occur at McDonald’s. In “Just Moved In,” (featured above) the most realistic of these scenarios, a family moves in to a new house. After a hard day of moving, they realize there’s nothing in the fridge to make for dinner and head to McDonald’s for a quick meal (which is just fine with the kids).

Other spots in the campaign feature an awkward first date, a rescue meal for a rainy camping trip, and a teen celebrating passing his driver’s test. Leo Burnett doesn’t overreach with the scenarios, instead choosing small moments that compliment larger ones — although the idea of taking a date to McDonald’s does seem a bit of stretch, no matter how young you are.

The broadcast spots are supported by an outdoor campaign “comprised of eight executions which also reminds people that McDonald’s has been there in the background of a myriad of moments all through their lives.” (more…)

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Leo Burnett gets emotional for Ronald McDonald House Charities with their new spot, “Dad’s Voice.”

The 60-second ad highlights the emotional impact of the charity providing home-to-home accommodation for families with a child in the hospital. “It’s only a voice, everyone has one,” a narrator intones at the opening of the spot. “But this, this is dad’s voice. Dad’s voice is, well, dad’s.” Going on to list some of the voice’s idiosyncrasies, the spot concludes, “Dad’s voice is the sound of home, even when they’re not at home.”

It’s a pretty straightforward approach, but it makes a real emotional impact, delivering on a relevant insight for the charity. It helps that the approach is tender without being cloying, choosing not to oversell the drama of the situation but rather sticking to what viewers can relate to. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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Leo Burnett has unveiled the latest in their “Favorites” campaign for McDonald’s UK with a new spot entitled “Hunter Gatherer.”

“Hunter Gatherer” — which will appear in a 60-second version online (above) and a 40-second broadcast version — follows a man as he attempts to satisfy his pregnant partner’s food craving while their city is shutting down. He goes to several groceries and convenience stores, all of which are closed, just shutting down for the night, or don’t have what he’s looking for. Finally, the man spots a 24-hour McDonald’s. He returns, McDonald’s bag in hand, to his skeptical partner. When she opens the box, however, it’s filled with the pickles she’s craving. It’s a cute concept, and highlights McDonald’s’ “Hey, we never close” selling point in an imaginative way. (Although it does also raise the question: Can you really go to McDonald’s and order nothing but a box of pickles?) Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Leo Burnett Change has launched a new campaign for the charity Business in the Community, highlighting the difficulties and discrimination ex-offenders face on the job market for the “Ban the Box” project. “Ban the Box,” is a project “calling on UK employers to remove the default criminal-record disclosure tick box from job application forms.” To call attention to this issue, Leo Burnett Chance took an innovative and thought-provoking approach to express the prejudice faced by ex-offenders on the job market.

The interactive spot “Second Chance” (after the jump), directed by Dougal Wilson, puts the viewer in the position of an employer interviewing an ex-offender. Just after the potential employee reveals that he was released from prison six months ago, the “skip ad” button appears. But this isn’t to skip through the rest of the video. The employee in this case is the ad. Leo Burnett equates the hasty discrimination many employers apply to ex-offenders interviewing for a job with viewers hastily pressing the “skip ad” button to get to their desired content. This is where the video gets interactive. If the viewer presses the “skip ad” button he or she is brought back to the video, this time with a more dejected, less articulate ex-offender. This can go on for several clicks of the “skip ad” button until the job applicant becomes fully dejected and says “I’m sorry that you didn’t want to listen. I hope you can find time in the future to give an ex-offender like me a second chance.” If the viewer does not press the skip ad button, the ex-offender becomes more confident and articulate as the video progresses, eventually expressing gratitude to the viewer for listening to him.

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