McDonald’s latest campaign seamlessly blends gaming culture and the relatability of side mission detours we all take in order to get our favourite fast food in their recent collaboration with ad agency Leo Burnett. The campaign, titled ‘Side Missions’, transforms the experience of completing a fast food detour into a video game, encouraging customers to complete various challenges. From customers being asked to complete side missions such as eating McDonald’s on ‘Hard Mode’, which challenges users to have their meal in the most extreme conditions or a ‘Fries Speedrun’ that rewards fans for laying out fries in size order in the fastest time.
The ‘Side Missions’ campaign encourages consumers to download the MyMcDonald’s app to participate in video game-style challenges that lead to exciting food offers and rewards throughout the week. The campaign also features a 60-second short directed by Emmy-nominated director Elliot Power. The film was first shown to viewers during the England v Wales UEFA Women’s Euros and shows the fun of engaging in a McDonald’s side quest. From gamifying the journey to nans to a quick McDonald’s detour on the way back home in a taxi, this campaign leans heavily into relatability and cheekiness.
The campaign leaves no channel untouched, spanning radio, OOH, and social media platforms, all unified by the retro gaming aesthetic of the campaign. With a strong focus on community first and community-led content, McDonald’s ensures every touchpoint speaks directly to its audience and fans with this carefully curated, cheeky campaign.
The Side Missions campaign is topped off and tied together by all the new menu products McDonald’s has to offer, from the return of Spicy McNuggets and the new Jaffa Cake Mcflurry to make McDonald’s side missions worth every detour.
Matthew Reischauer, Marketing Director for the McDonald’s UK and IE chain explained “We all know that a detour to McDonald’s, whether on the way to the office (that meeting could have been an email) on your way home (sleep can wait, I really need a double cheeseburger), or just because, is a welcome break from the day. With Side Missions, we’re giving fans more ways to celebrate the journey of life; it’s just as important as the destination.”
James Millers and Andrew Long, executive creative directors at Leo, further added, “Side Missions is our love letter to every spontaneous Maccies run that somehow feels more exciting than whatever you were meant to be doing. We tapped into the language of gaming to reframe these everyday pitstops as playable moments – turning craving into quests, fans into players, and McDonald’s into the most fun side mission on the map.”
