Playing The Nostalgia Game: McDonald’s Trading Cards

Physical media is being rediscovered, and McDonald’s is all in. Embracing the past, the brand’s latest ‘CARDS’ campaign, created by Leo UK, takes a trip down memory lane creating a collectible card set inspired to join together fans, old and young. It also taps into trading communities and consumers who enjoy winning prizes, collecting cards, and seeing amazing artworks from the brand’s iconic memorabilia. 

The collectible set showcases the brand's many mascots and menu items, reflecting a rich archive that fans can reminisce over. Every card design is hand illustrated for customers to collect, trade and also includes a rare 25th card, a golden Ronald McDonald, for fans to seek out for a chance to win big. The campaign also has collaborations with leading UK collector creators Randolph and PokiChloe, to bring an authentic touch and to create a unique experience for trader enthusiasts. 

Making more than just a memory of a meal, ‘CARDS’ was initially designed to engage with collector communities and bring them together in spaces and engage with the cards before expanding to a broader national audience. Jed Small and Ev Bryant are the creative team behind it, working on the project for two years and aligning the development with a brief that focuses on connecting with Gen Z audiences. 

Creative Salon: What was the original brief from McDonald’s that led to the development of this campaign?

Jed: The brief was to come up with a new Gen Z-focused promo that boosts McDonald’s brand equity.

What led you to the idea of trading cards?

Jed: We wanted a game that was accessible, easy to play and encouraged behaviours that could be rewarded with prizes, so we started by thinking about the kinds of games we play ourselves as Gen Zs. We’re massive collectors, especially trading cards like Pokémon and Match Attax, which we’ve collected since we were kids. The trading card game (TCG) scene has been booming for a while and suddenly having a card collection is cool… finally.

We’re also huge McDonald’s fans (not sponsored) and have loads of memories of visits throughout the years - and we know we’re not alone. Maccies has as instant recognisability and cultural pull that goes way beyond just the food. So, we had the idea to take all of those McDonald’s memories, old and new, and turn them into trading cards people can collect to win prizes and keep forever.

Why did the creative development take so long?

Ev: We’d never made a TCG before! But we do know exactly what one should look and feel like and were hellbent on making our game as authentic as possible from the start. We sweated every detail: material, dimensions, corner size, deck size, illustration styles, and ultimately what went on each card. We spent the first year or so developing the game itself; concepting and designing all the cards with Leo’s designer Danny Flint (who smashed every one), branding the game with its own unique VI and then creating a brand-new digital experience to house the prize mechanic. After that, our focus switched to advertising the game in a way that felt true to collector culture while also introducing it to McDonald’s broader audience.

How did the idea evolve over the two year development period?

Jed: It’s honestly hard to sum up the last couple of years of development but we basically evolved every part of CARDS as we went, from the card designs and gameplay to the digital experience and even the prize pool.

To make our set feel like a proper TCG, we created different card categories: Character, Fan, Retro, and Legendary - with varying levels of rarity, inspired by games like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! The rarest cards in those games are holographic shiny, and feel like a real win when you pull one, so we wanted the same for our cards.

We also developed the gameplay, numbering each card and organising them into sets so players can easily keep track of what they’ve got and what they’re still chasing. That thinking informed the digital experience too, where we included codes on the back of each card that players can enter in the McDonald’s app to build a digital collection.

We added a secret 25th card, with a super limited number of only 10 in existence, which is another classic TCG move, and linked it to a £10k prize – like a golden ticket. There was only ever going to be one thing on that card, we chose Ronald McDonald, the ultimate OG McDonald’s icon, who hadn’t been seen in over 30 years – so it’s super cool to say we brought him back.

We wanted every pack to come with free food too, which is the best part of Maccies promos and for our game, we wanted everyone to feel like they’d won something. We tied it to the McDonaldland characters who are based on menu items, so if you pull the character, you get the food it’s inspired by.

What were the main challenges and how did you decide what to feature on the cards?

Ev: Choosing the cards was a really fun process. We drew on our own experiences and did a lot of research, using social as a tool to find the types of nostalgic Maccies memories and unhinged food hacks that people share and relate to the most. We scamped loads of cards and have a running doc with even more ideas. We worked with McDonald’s and tested which ideas resonated the most and, after landing on a deck size of 24, we picked the final set, making sure to strike a good balance of deep cuts and fan favourites.

Once the trading cards idea was established, how did you build the campaign around it?

Jed: We wanted to get the collector community on our side, because we knew if we gained their trust and proved CARDS credibility, interest in the campaign would snowball. Like all big trends, it starts with a small fandom who are really tapped in so we began by speaking to just the collector community at start of the campaign.

We looked at how other TCGs and video games had launched and used that to inform our strategy. We debuted CARDS at the London Card Show back in February, where we knew a massive audience of trading card fans would be gathered and gave them an exclusive first look. We proved to them that we had done our homework, that we’d stayed true to the heart of trading card games, and that McDonald’s had the collector creds to make somthing like this.

We then cast the net wider got McDonald’s fans involved too; we targeted creators, McDonald’s fan groups, trading hubs and worked our way towards the launch date of 17 March. In total, we were breadcrumbing the lore behind CARDS and giving our exclusive early access six weeks before we launched the game to the wider nation.

How does the digital collection play a part in the creative campaign?

Ev: The digital collection plays a really big role. It’s how players win prizes, but we didn’t want it to just be a means to an end. We designed it to be a hub for collectors to discover decades of McDonald’s lore and explore every detail of the cards. We wrote a bio for every card that describes each item and characters backstory. We also gave players to ability to navigate a fully interactive digital version of the cards with animations when you unlock them that really brings them to life.

There’s also a big education job to be done because this is a brand-new game, and we’re teaching people how to play in this first year. So, we made sure the digital experience was easy to navigate and houses plenty of information about how to play: which cards you need to collect in each set and what prizes you win for completing them.

Who did you see as the core audience for CARDS, and how did that influence the creative?

Jed: The core audience are collectors and fans of McDonald’s. We knew there’d be a large audience looking at this from a purely collector standpoint, so we spoke to them first in the four rooms they hang out and tailored lots of the creative like our social and posters to really hero the card designs, show off their details and collectability. We then tailored our broader media, like AV, to celebrate the decades of McDonald’s memories that inspired the cards and resonate with so many people.

How was working with UK collector creators Randolph and PokiChloe to help with decision making and ensuring its place in collecting culture?

Ev: Randolph and PokiChloe are fantastic! From the first meeting they were completely bought into the idea and really valued the effort we put in to make CARDS an authentic TCG. From that moment we knew we we’re on the right track and worked with them to make sure that our entire campaign stayed true to collecting culture. We co-created experiences and content with the collector community at the front of mind, like meet-n-greets, how to plays, pack openings and even a partnership with Randy’s card grading company ACE. They also make a cameo in our AV, as an Easter egg for die hard TCG fans.

What challenges did you face in creating CARDS and making sure they had a real trading card feel?

Jed: It’s one thing knowing what a TCG should look and feel like, and another actually making it for real.

From the start, we wanted full-art cards with bold, distinctive borders; something you could recognise instantly, like the most iconic TCGs. Once the concepts were set, we developed unique art styles for each category, using a mix of hand-drawn illustrations and CGI renders. We considered how the designs would print early on, especially factoring in misregistration. (Too much can ruin the designs, but having a little bit really adds that slightly imperfect, nostalgic feel that makes trading cards special).

When it came to size, we stuck with standard 2.5 x 3.5 inch measures so the cards would slot straight into existing binders and collections and picked 0.125-inch rounded corners, similar to Pokémon cards, just to get that familiar feel right.

For materials, we always knew we wanted both standard and holographic versions. We landed on a semi-gloss finish for standard cards, and a shiny prismatic finish for legendary ones so they really pop. All the cards are 340gsm thickness, which gives a nice weight in hand without feeling flimsy or cheap. Some of the early prototypes honestly felt more like beer mats, so dialling in the size and materials took a bit of back and forth, but it was worth it to get it right.