Celebrating Four Decades Of McDonald’s and Leo Burnett

For McDonald’s UK and Leo Burnett, the four decade partnership is nothing short of iconic.

It all began in 1986 after McDonald’s UK spent years navigating the advertising scene with various agencies. Yet, it took time to discover the perfect fit, much like finding the right recipe. Leo Burnett was that match—and the rest is history.

Now celebrating 50 years of McDonald’s in Britain, Leo Burnett has been at the helm of crafting some of the most memorable and creative campaigns for the brand. From the beloved “I’m Lovin’ It” slogan to the use of iconic characters like the Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar and Grimace, the partnership has delivered creativity at scale, producing around 20 campaigns each year.

Andrew Long, executive creative director at Leo Burnett, describes the pace: "It's really fast and furious. That’s the nature of the QSR category. McDonald’s is a leader in that. There’s always something happening. We have a strategy that is all about keeping as close to customers as possible. The mood of a nation changes, and you want to be on the front foot of that. That means we need to change our plans or add something. There are always things getting thrown at us. But it's an amazing partnership. It doesn’t feel like an agency partnership that we've ever worked on before. It's one team."

The long-standing relationship, spanning around four decades, has helped build a creative legacy in the UK. Andrew and his creative partner James Millers took the lead of the McDonald's account four years ago, having worked on it since joining Leo Burnett over seven years ago. The strength of the partnership lies in one key factor: trust.

Long continues: "The relationship between Leo Burnett and McDonald's is one of those iconic, longstanding partnerships that are increasingly rare in the industry today. When you collaborate with either McDonald's or Leo's, the wealth of experience becomes evident, highlighting just how valuable these types of relationships are."

Michelle Graham-Clare, CMO and SVP reflects on what makes Leo Burnett such a strong agency partner. "We have a strong partnership with Leo Burnett simply because we approach everything we do—our strategies, processes, and campaigns—as equals. We have one shared agenda: the commercial and creative health of our brand. Beyond that, our only real interest is working together to achieve it. No sides, no sell, and no secret ambitions."

Looking ahead, Long and Millers were optimistic that the best was yet to come for the partnership between McDonald's and Leo Burnett.

"We were incredibly proud of the journey we had been on with this brand. It was something that everyone who had been involved could take immense pride in," Long adds. "Creatively and in terms of effectiveness, we had four consecutive years of winning Cannes Lions, Effies, and every major award. McDonald's UK was even named Brand of the Year. There was a huge sense of pride in what we had achieved so far."

As the partnership celebrates four decades, the brand's latest campaign adds another chapter to the storied legacy, reinforcing its position as an iconic and creatively driven collaboration in the industry.

'The Gift of McDonald’s' captures the festive spirit while offering a moment of lightness and joy amidst the holiday chaos. With its larger-than-life light show and nationwide gift drop, the campaign not only reinforces McDonald’s ability to connect with customers but also highlights Leo Burnett’s knack for staying ahead of the curve.

Yet, both Long and Millers were adamant that this was just the beginning. "It might have sounded cliché, but for everyone at Leo's and McDonald's, it genuinely felt like we were just getting started," Long added. "The momentum we had built, along with the insights gained from campaigns like 'Raise Your Arches', was shaping our creative ambition moving forward. The sky truly was the limit."

In the near term, the focus was on navigating the financial challenges their customers were facing. "We rolled out exciting new products and promotions in the coming weeks and months," Long noted, "all while reinforcing the relationship Britain had with the brand through creativity."

Millers echoed this enthusiasm, revealing that plans were already in motion for the end of that year, throughout 2024, and even into mid-2025. "We were genuinely thrilled about everything we had lined up," he said. "It was exciting to anticipate how our upcoming work would resonate with customers and fans.

Millers also highlighted how current challenges provided opportunities. "The ongoing cost of living crisis pushed us to tap into our best creativity," Millers explained. "From a partnership perspective, these moments drove us to produce our finest work. Even though we were navigating a tough landscape, it opened up numerous opportunities to experiment and create something fresh and engaging."

As McDonald’s marks its 50th year in the UK, the partnership continues to thrive with no sign of slowing down. Creative Salon sat down with Long, Millers and Graham-Clare to explore the secrets behind this long-standing collaboration.

How has this long relationship shaped McDonald's branded identity?

Long: We didn't invent this joke, but it's one we've heard often and now use frequently: it can be hard to see where McDonald's ends and Leo's begins. With a relationship spanning 38 years, our partnership extends across every part of the business. It’s not just about Leo's creating marketing campaigns and innovative ideas; our collaboration encompasses business strategy, menu development, loyalty programs, and research aimed at getting as close as possible to our customers.

A deep-rooted, shared understanding of the brand voice is at the heart of this collaboration. This understanding has shaped our work over the years and has been crucial in helping us evolve. Even as society and culture continue to shift, our clear, shared comprehension of the brand voice and its relationship with customers allows us to maintain that identity as time goes by.

Millers: It's a brand that is fundamentally American at its core, which is intriguing. Over the years, our partnership has focused on embedding the brand into the heart of British culture. We strive to create work that truly resonates with fans, demonstrating that McDonald's understands them. A couple of years ago, one newspaper described our efforts, emphasizing how the brand has become as British as fish and chips. That's the kind of language we hold onto when considering how we create our work.

How does the long relationship influence Leo's creative work?

Millers: It's probably one of the longest-standing agency partnerships in the industry and certainly one of our most enduring as an agency. McDonald's is also one of the most iconic brands in the world, so, inevitably, the style of work we create for them over the years has a ripple effect on the rest of Leo Burnett's portfolio. I see that as a positive. In recent years, we've discussed a style of creativity that emerged from Leo Burnett, and we've expanded our approach because it aligns with populist creativity. McDonald's is one of the most popular brands globally, and the work we do for them is central to building that brand promise, serving as a lighthouse for our creative direction.

Long: The way this partnership has influenced and shaped Leo Burnett's work is significant; creativity is foundational for us. It’s in the DNA of the McDonald's brand. Business growth comes from creativity and a genuine commitment to making bold, effective work. With that constant drive from the brand across 20 or 30 campaigns a year, every team member is exposed to that demand. This means everyone in the Leo Burnett team gets upskilled, and making better work for McDonald's translates into better work for all our brands. We’re also able to draw talent from a larger pool because McDonald's serves as such a beacon. It’s not just a good thing; it’s a super positive aspect for everyone we work with.

What are some insights into the creative process and how do you collaborate with your team to develop and select campaign ideas?

Graham-Clare: It’s all about trust. That’s the bedrock on which everything is built.

I trust Leo’s expertise and that they put the needs of our brand above all else. In return, they trust that I always have our combined creative interests at heart.

This trust stops us from wasting time on misalignment and petty disagreements and, instead, allows us to focus our energy where it counts: collaborating, directing, and pushing our creativity into new and more exciting places.

Are there any challenges that you've faced over the years with that kind of relationship? And how do you tackle them?

Long: When I think about challenges, the biggest one is probably the relationship with our customers. McDonald's is a brand built on its connection with the nation and its customers, promising to deliver feel-good moments whenever they're needed. So, the main challenge in maintaining that closeness is the ever-changing mood of the nation, the shifting culture, and the evolving demands of our customers.

Our strategy team is always conducting research and spending time in the field, meeting customers to understand their needs, which ensures we have a steady supply of relevant insights. Even when challenges arise—like the current cost of living crisis—we're able to navigate them more effectively than many brands. This is because we invest time in nurturing that foundational relationship and commitment to understanding our customers and delivering for them. I think that makes a significant difference.

Millers: Everyone at Leo Burnett is a huge brand fan when it comes to McDonald's. That’s a crucial part of creating the right kind of work. As a team, we spend time in the restaurants; we eat the food and think about what happens at McDonald's day and night. We understand, wholeheartedly, what the brand is going through. I believe that shows up in our work more than anything else, and it’s something we take pride in here at Leo Burnett.

Long: One of the things James and I have been able to bring to the brand, on a personal level, is our genuine, rich affinity with it. Perhaps it’s because we’re at that age where we’ve grown up with McDonald’s. I was taken to McDonald’s once a month as a kid, as a special treat, no matter what was happening. Then, as a teenager, we were in the restaurant every single day after school and before college. We’ve lived our lives through the lens of McDonald’s, developing a genuine understanding of the role it plays in our lives—a shared experience for many who have similar stories.

We try to infuse as much of that personal inspiration into the work as possible, ensuring that everyone on the team approaches the brand with that same mindset. I do believe that shows up in the work.

Despite all the changes that happen within a creative agency over the years, what aspects of the business endure year after year?

Graham-Clare: Leo Burnett has enjoyed amazing success over the past few years. However, whilst the agency might now be slightly bigger, its ethos has remained the same.

They’re still just good, honest people delivering the best creative populism the industry has to offer. The only difference is they now do this across everything from brand and direct response to activation, loyalty, and social.

So, whilst they might have grown, they’re still the same old Leo’s. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

How has the creative approach to McDonald’s changed with market trends and consumer preferences?

Millers: The strategy department plays a massive role in all of this. It's key to having a solid foundation, and it's always been fundamental to the work we create for McDonald's, historically speaking. Our goal is to consistently identify where the brand genuinely fits into people’s lives and to celebrate that in truly authentic ways, ensuring we have a meaningful role in those moments.

While trends and cultural nuances develop over time as part of life, they’re not the starting point for our work. We always begin with the truth of the brand. Once we've established that, we then bring in those cultural trends and nuances to complement the work, but it always starts with a core brand truth that fans can recognize and understand.

Long: The fact that we have such a clear understanding of the brand and a well-established creative strategy—based on celebrating the truths of the brand—means we can quickly adapt when behaviour or market conditions shift. Take the launch of delivery, for example. That was a market shift that changed how people interacted with McDonald’s. But having a clear strategy allowed us to quickly identify our role within that new category. The same goes for more recent developments like loyalty programs or plant-based offerings. Propositions will evolve with market trends and customer preferences, but that doesn't change how we approach the work. We always start by finding those core truths baked into the brand's DNA and then connect them to what's happening in the world at the moment.

For something like McDelivery, which was a huge shift in the market, our starting point wasn’t to talk about it the same way a delivery service like UberEATS might. That’s not what we do. Instead, we celebrate what’s great about McDonald’s and emphasize that now you can enjoy it at home. No other platform can deliver the same food or tap into those unique rituals and behaviours. So, that’s where we begin, with the delivery service simply becoming a new way to enjoy it.

Which McDonald’s campaigns have strengthened the long-term partnership, and are there any that stand out personally?

Long: The strength of this relationship goes far beyond any single piece of work or campaign, and we’d never claim otherwise. Over the years, there have been countless—probably thousands—of people from both the agency and the brand side who have made their collective contributions to get McDonald’s to where it is creatively today. Right now, we’re just the ones trying to keep pushing it forward and do justice to that legacy.

Millers: It comes down to the work you’ve personally been involved in. The ones that stand out are those that resonate with the public on a memorable level and have done well. For us, it’s impossible to single out just one, but I’d say 'Raise Your Arches' is a piece that’s hard not to mention. It was an ad with no food, no restaurant, yet it carried such a powerful brand message at its core. That’s something only McDonald’s could pull off. Work like that stands out in terms of partnership, where the trust is built on a shared understanding of the brand—on both our side and the client’s, who we also consider friends.

Graham-Clare: When it comes to our partnership with Leo Burnett, this campaign was the proof of the pudding.

It came at a time when we needed to drive Brand Love more than ever and, due to incoming HFSS legislation, in ways that broke every rule in the marketing handbook.

None of what resulted – not the product-less ad, the newspaper headlines, nor the £43.7 million incremental revenue – would have been possible without the extraordinary levels of trust we had built between us over the decades.

Long: 'Fries Claims' stands out. It taps into one of the simplest, most universal fan truths—someone stealing your fries. But what makes it important for us is that it helped set the blueprint for how we show up on social platforms. That’s something we’re proud of over the past few years, how our work for McDonald’s continues to evolve as the industry shifts. It’s no longer just about linear campaigns focused on film, radio, or out-of-home; those are still crucial, of course. But now, we’re creating work that’s relevant to people’s lives across different platforms, all with the same creative ambition.

One recent highlight must be the 50th birthday campaign. We’ve said before how much this brand means to us personally and getting that right—celebrating McDonald’s legacy—was a big deal. It’s a once-in-a-career opportunity, so there was a lot of pressure to do it justice. We’re pleased with how it turned out, and I think it’s been an amazing tribute to everything great about the brand over the last 50 years.

We wanted everyone who watched it to be able to spot something that triggered a memory for them. Throughout the whole campaign, there are little moments like that—whether or not you ever had a birthday party at McDonald’s. Chances are, you’ve been in a McDonald’s at some point over the last 50 years, and there’s something in the campaign that might just spark that memory, like, “Oh yeah, that was a great time with my family 10 years ago.” That’s what we were trying to tap into, but in a way that felt celebratory and fresh. We didn’t just want to remind people of something they liked in the past; we wanted to create a new experience for them.

Millers: It can be the most random, innocuous thing too. For me, it’s the coin spinner where you’d put your 2p in, and it spins around that bend in the white circle. Having those tiny easter eggs peppered throughout the whole campaign—that’s really what makes it special.

Long: There’s a lot of nostalgia tied to what we do with McDonald’s. It’s a theme we think about a lot because McDonald’s is a place where lifelong memories have been made for millions of people—whether it’s the moment you graduate from Happy Meals to your first Big Mac or a McDonald’s birthday party. That shared nostalgia connects fans, even across borders, making it incredibly rich and emotive as a starting point. But what makes this campaign work, and what we always aim to do, is use those memories to create new experiences. We want to give both old and new fans a chance to enjoy a trip to McDonald’s again but in a fresh, present-day way.

Millers: We tried to approach it in a way that didn’t feel like a campaign but more like a party, something people would naturally want to get involved in throughout different stages. Whether it was the digital party bag or the party food we introduced, we aimed to bring those elements into the main moment. Tapping into that rich heritage over the past 50 years, we focused on creating experiences that felt authentic and celebratory.

Having grown up with McDonald's what was your favourite ad as a child?

Long: My favorite as a kid, is the old McNugget buddies campaigns. Sat at home watching TV, being like, God, we've got to go to McDonald's after seeing that like that is like ingrained in my memory. As we've got a bit older and probably start to think about our own career path and pay more attention to the craft of advertising, I feel like the original McDonald's saver menu ads where it's like, this is the amount of work an estate agent would have to do for the saver menu. We've made so much work on McDonald's that I'm super proud of but that's work that I wish I had made for McDonald's.

Millers: That moment in 'McNuggets Away' is ingrained in our memories. Some of the work from before we joined the brand was brilliant and set the tone for what McDonald’s was about. Take Dave, for example—the story of a son and his stepdad. It was such a beautiful narrative, and the way it was told was really special. We're doing less of that kind of work now, but it remains a standout moment in McDonald's creative history.

Michelle, is there one thing in particular that you think has evolved since you took the helm of the brand's marketing team?

Graham-Clare: In my time, we’ve not only launched McCafé, McDelivery, and MyMcDonald’s (loyalty scheme) but introduced plant-based options, renovated the core line-up and completely overhauled brand comms. Staying still has not been an option.

But, guiding all these changes in output, has been one central evolution in process: customer closeness.

McDonald’s now puts the customer at the heart of all we do. In just the past 3 years since Covid, we’ve almost doubled the amount spent on insight and this dedication to customer closeness now guides everything from food development and promotional activity to loyalty experiences and brand comms.

In an uncertain world, this evolution is what has ensured we can always serve our customers, react to changes and grow. No matter what.

How do you keep your creative work consistent for McDonald’s diverse customers?

Long: This is a question we often get asked, especially considering how challenging it can be to maintain a consistent standard while producing so much work. However, the answer is quite simple, and we believe it’s key to our creative approach to the brand. Every piece we create for McDonald's starts from a genuine truth about the brand’s authentic role in culture. We strive to meet customers where they are, utilizing research and communications planning to shape our campaigns and ensure they are bold and impactful. Ultimately, they always return to that same starting point: identifying what’s true about the brand and how it authentically connects with people's lives and culture.

Millers: The work we produce reflects our diverse audiences and appears in various spaces and contexts. Our approach, while it may seem simple at times, is effective in ensuring that everything we create feels distinctly McDonald's. This consistency allows us to maintain a cohesive brand identity across the breadth of our work.

Long: We'd never start with a technique or something we're seeing that we really want to squeeze into an ad. Every single thing we do, and every team that works on the brand would say the same thing. It’s always about finding the truth about McDonald's, whether that's in relation to McDelivery, McPlant, or the Big Tasty. Then everything else we have at our disposal—technology, platforms, social media—becomes just the way we deliver that message. I think that’s what helps the work stay really consistent.

Millers: And when we talk about truth, we mean a truth about McDelivery that’s universal—something everyone can grasp. It’s not about diving into a super niche truth that only a few would relate to. Instead, it’s about capturing something that feels familiar, something that resonates across experiences, and reflects a shared understanding of the brand and its role in culture.

What does McDonald’s expect from Leo Burnett, and how are you maintaining the client-agency relationship?

Millers: There's a mutual understanding. Both companies have a relatively low turnover of people, so over time, you're able to build proper relationships. It works so well because we all share the same values, whether that's from spending so much time together or just naturally aligning. There's a real trust in each other.

We expect each other to keep pushing—to push the work and ensure it’s the best it can be. As much as it's Leo Burnett's responsibility to elevate the work and ensure it’s driving the brand forward, McDonald's has that same responsibility. If the work isn’t quite at the right level, they’ll push us back, and it becomes this back-and-forth dynamic where we both drive each other to get it right.

It almost feels like there’s little separation between the agency and the brand. We work together, combining their skills with ours to achieve these shared goals. I think that’s because, at the start of every year, we develop a shared creative ambition—what we want the work to look and feel like for that year.

Long: When I’m working on McDonald’s—which is a lot of the time—I genuinely feel like I’m working for McDonald’s just as much as I am for Leo’s. There’s no difference in our minds. We couldn’t be closer to the brand.

The kind of people McDonald’s attracts and the type Leo’s brings in share this collective spirit. It’s down-to-earth, good people who love having a laugh, working hard, and making the brand famous. That’s in the DNA of both businesses, which makes it easy to bring the teams together. And even when someone moves on and someone new comes in, that shared DNA in the relationship stays the same.