McDonald's Celebrates Taking Fans On Side Missions

The campaign by Leo Burnett puts a unique gaming lens on the universal fan truth that visiting is always a welcomed detour

By Creative Salon

14 July 2025

This summer, Leo UK and McDonald’s are celebrating the joy of a side mission to McDonald’s with an integrated campaign that gamifies the brand experience across every touchpoint.

‘McDonald’s Side Missions’ is inspired by the universal fan truth that McDonald’s is life’s side mission. Whether that’s stopping for a Big Mac during a long journey or a McMuffin before work, a trip to McDonald’s is always a welcome detour and often more fun than the main mission.

To bring this to life, the brand has tapped into the origins of the phrase ‘side mission’, meeting fans at the intersection of gaming culture to create a unique experience that turns everything fans love about McDonald’s into playable side missions that they can complete to earn badges and legendary prizes like ‘Maxed Out (99,999)’ Reward Points.

Just like in gaming, McDonald’s Side Missions come in different shapes, sizes, lengths and difficulties. From the ‘Big Mac of Destiny’ that invites fans to claim a £1.99 Big Mac to the ‘Fries Speedrun’ that rewards fans for laying out their fries in size order in record time.

Fans can participate by accessing a Side Missions in the MyMcDonald’s app, designed and developed by tms. The app features an interactive screen with daily Side Missions that unlock delicious food offers throughout the week and "loot" in the form of instant prizes on weekends.

CRM, managed by TMW, will reward participating fans with fun digital badges for every mission they complete, whilst also tempting them away from life’s main mission with behavioral triggers, like ‘The Rise and Grind Side Mission’ which encourages fans to order a McCafé coffee at the break of dawn.

McDonald’s has even teamed up with some of the nation’s most popular gamers to co-create a series of legendary Side Missions such as ordering the perfect £13.37 “LEET” meal. Launching with Angry Ginge, the first of these Side Missions will see fans attempt to eat McDonald’s on ‘Hard Mode’, where they need to post a video of themselves eating at a McDonald’s under the toughest conditions for a chance to win maxed out rewards points. This will also be supported by McDonald’s first-ever TikTok Branded ‘mission’, encouraging users to co-create, with standout videos boosted via paid support.

Finally, the campaign will be accompanied by its own ‘Side Missions’ menu, which launches on 30th July. The returning Spicy McNuggets are the ultimate Side Mission, positioned as the final-boss, and the Jaffa Cakes McFlurry is introduced as a brand-new unlocked flavour - making every Side Mission to McDonald’s even more delicious.

The media strategy, developed by OMD, has been designed to land Side Missions in culture – both pop culture and gaming culture - whilst tempting people to accept a Side Mission, and go forth! The McDonald’s Side Missions experience will be promoted with a fan-to-fan 360 marketing campaign that spans AV, OOH, radio, CRM, digital and social that blends reactive, creator-led and community-first content across platforms.

Launching organically with a cryptic McDonald’s ‘loading screen’ in a nod to classic game intros that ignited speculation and conversation in comments. That moment unlocked a full stream of social content shaped around humour, fan truths and gaming in-jokes: from lo-fi memes and POV skits to creator duets and reactive posts.

Accompanying the social activations is a 60” hero film from Leo UK, brought to life by Emmy nominated director Elliott Power through acclaimed production company Love Song. The film playfully celebrates the many reasons we make side missions to McDonald’s. Set to the high-energy track ‘Twilight Zone’ by 2Unlimited, the film combines cinematic storytelling with nostalgic, gamified visual overlays. Scenes of families embarking on relatable side missions are reimagined with classic gaming references, even featuring gamified characters making their own detour to McDonald’s and a cameo from AngryGinge.

The spot debuted during the peak of the UEFA Women’s Euros England vs. Wales game on 13th July, with further TV placements including prime slots for Love Island and Gogglebox. Additionally, 20, 10 and 6-second cutdowns featuring fans’ individual side missions to McDonald’s will go live across SVOD. Cherry-picked gaming partners will also bring Side Missions to life with in-game custom builds.

Dynamic audio will highlight the daily changing ‘Side Missions’ fans can unlock in the app and a gamified version of the iconic five note sting will also prompt listeners to take ‘a detour to McDonald’s for a cheeky pitstop’.

OOH supporting the app promotion brings the ‘Side Missions’ idea to life using daily digital placements to prompt fans with timely, contextual detours targeting customers in the moments when they might want to side mission to McDonald’s, each headline bespoke to the placement. Creative mirrors the campaign’s gaming inspired visual identity, complete with pixel art, playful copy and gamified product imagery that ties directly into that day’s in-app offer or mission, connecting the physical and digital experience.

The campaign was a cross-agency collaboration: Media planning and buying was managed by OMD. PR and consumer outreach was handled by Red Consultancy. CRM was handled by TMW and Digital by tms, whilst POP Communications were handled by Linney.

James Millers and Andrew Long, Executive Creative Directors, Leo UK, said: “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 cravings into quests, fans into players, and McDonald’s into the most fun side mission on the map.”

Matthew Reischauer, Marketing Director, McDonald's UK & IE, added: “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."

Credits:

CAMPAIGN TITLE: ‘McDonald’s Side Missions'

CLIENT: McDonald’s

ADVERTISING AGENCY: Leo Burnett

CCO: Mark Elwood

EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Andrew Long & James Millers

SENIOR CREATIVE: Matt Wood

SENIOR CREATIVE: Tom Loveless

DESIGNER: Harry Ingrams, Freddie Hessian, Natalie Shortt, Carmen Perez Jimenez, Matt Slater, Joao Pereira

HEAD OF DESIGN: David Allen

SOCIAL CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Ben Hooper

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER: Laura Taylor