As 2020 began, McDonald’s and Leo Burnett were in a good place.

We had a happy 36 year relationship, 50 quarters of growth and a deeply ingrained understanding of the strategy that had gotten us there. Things were looking up.

But then, March arrived…

The pandemic changed everything.

For the first time, McDonald’s was forced to shutter its entire UK operation.

All 1,270 restaurants were closed, advertising budgets cancelled, and comms strategies destroyed.

For 2 months not a penny of revenue taken and, every day, 2.3 million customer visits were lost - some directly to competitors, who had chosen to stay open.

For the first time in decades, we didn’t have a plan.

The old ways of doing things – our working practices, processes and plans - were all redundant.

All we knew was that we needed to restore McDonald’s revenue and market share, before any more damage was done.

Reopening with Confidence

With 94% of our budget invested in brand-building, we offered the public a great, big, confident “Welcome Back!”

The campaign leveraged UGC footage of real customers being reunited with McDonald’s, and was kicked off by crowdsourcing music recommendations. 15k fans let us know: ‘Return of the Mack!’

Offering ongoing Compassion

We set up “Mood of the Nation” tracker to listen to the public’s concerns, and then compassionately responded with activity, including:

• Free coffee for NHS workers and 1m meals for families, with Marcus Rashford.

• Alleviating lockdown boredom, with DIY recipes and a Stormzy-headlined online music festival.

• Reassuring the best things in life needn’t be expensive (“The Gift” TVC) and that, even in darkness of lockdown, McDonald’s could deliver a little light (“We Deliver” OOH).

Underpinning it all with Competence

Through a simple animated campaign, explaining McDonald’s efforts to keep its customers and crew safe.