Edgar Wright directs McDonald’s ad celebrating the unspoken invitation to enjoy its menu

Leo Burnett campaign celebrates the universal joy in communicating the ‘Fancy a McDonald’s?’ moment

By creative salon

13 January 2023

The campaign centres on the creative insight that the invitation to grab a Maccie’s is so universal, it can be communicated without uttering a single word.

The social-first campaign celebrates this knowing look with a series of through the line ads and activations, all designed to get the nation raising their arches and joining in.

Aiming to give people a little lift this January, the bold and fun campaign was teased on the brand’s social channels and TV end frames this week with a simple graphic ‘eyebrow raise’ adaptation of the iconic McDonald’s logo. The full campaign launches today [13th Jan] with a joyous film directed by cult British filmmaker Edgar Wright, renowned for his critically acclaimed box office hits including Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho and the seminal Shaun of the Dead. The film was produced by Moxie Pictures.

The film, “Raise Your Arches” tells a story of a group of office workers who, through a series of these unspoken invitations, conspire together to head to McDonald’s. The film begins in a typical office, a heavy folder of papers is slammed onto a desk. With a sigh, two colleagues catch each other’s eye. One of them raises their eyebrows to the other in a knowing way, she understands exactly what that means. They nod in agreement and head off. With smiles on their faces, they walk purposefully through the office: raising their ‘arches’ to their colleagues in a universally understood gesture. It doesn’t take long for the whole office to join in, it’s a lunchtime escape - window cleaners and postman included, in an ultimate shared moment of release.

It’s the first ever McDonald’s film to not feature a McDonald’s restaurant or the food, yet it’s a moment that couldn’t be more ‘McDonalds’. The film will launch on 13th January on social and TV, premiering during Coronation Street on ITV at 8:15pm.

The ‘Fancy a McDonald’s’ invitation will be turbo-charged through social media, as McDonald’s call on employees, brand fans and influencers to get involved in the eyebrow-raising action in an activation led by The Red Consultancy. Snapchat and Instagram lenses will also support the campaign: the lens will raise the user’s arches, allowing McDonald’s fans to share and invite their friends to get a McDonald’s.

The campaign then heads in-store, with Linney designing in-restaurant digital takeovers and transforming the iconic McDonald’s Golden Arches sky signs at two restaurants into the raised arches version of the logo. The ‘M’ will be cropped and animated, moving in a way that replicates the eyebrow-raise shown in the film.

The activity will be underpinned by a generous digital sales promotion, designed by TMS to drive app downloads and deliver a fortnight of offers and rewards to customers from Blue Monday onwards. Over the next 12 months the campaign will be amplified internationally, with almost 40 markets across the world joining the movement.

Michelle Graham-Clare, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer at McDonald’s UK & Ireland, said: “In a challenging time, our Raise Your Arches invitation to McDonald’s provides the nation with a small but much-needed moment to let go and feel good. We hope the campaign raises arches and smiles across the country and I can’t wait to see everyone get involved.”

Chaka Sobhani, Chief Creative Officer at Leo Burnett UK and Global, said: ”An invitation to McDonald’s is an opportunity to put our responsibilities aside and enjoy a little lift. And we hope Raise Your Arches does exactly that, allowing everyone to momentarily let go of life’s pressures and enjoying a Maccers. We were beyond excited to work with the brilliant Edgar Wright to bring this idea to life – from the visual look and feel he creates to what he does with music and choreography, he’s got that knack of making work that grabs your attention for all the right reasons. We’re always looking at ways to raise a smile and create big populist entertainment for Maccers and in the hands of Edgar, we hope we’ve created something that does both.”

Edgar Wright, Director: “As soon as I read the script I was like, “Oh, I love this song, I love this premise. This will be a lot of fun.”