Campaigns

Leo Burnett Includes Tweets, Hash Browns in Its McDonald’s Breakfast Push

By Patrick Coffee 

ICYMI, McDonald’s All Day Breakfast menu threatened to “break the Internet” before it even officially went live IRL this morning. Quite a few media professionals spent yesterday evening wondering why the world’s biggest fast food chain had neglected the most important part of any carb-centric breakfast: hash browns.

But the always-reliable Business Insider confirmed this morning (after a SWEET MassMutual ad) that the rumors were not true as 90 percent of McD’s locations will indeed offer hash browns throughout the day. We are more scandalized by the fact that “The restaurants serving McMuffin sandwiches will serve only three kinds: egg, sausage with egg, and sausage.”

As we learned in September, Leo Burnett will be leading creative on this new marketing push, with DDB and several of the client’s other agencies pitching in with their own takes on what #AllDayBreakfast means to them.

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Burnett’s first spot launched over the weekend. “We Hear You” is kind of but not really like a tween version of Jimmy Kimmel’s mean tweets.

So breakfast is coming.

For the next three spots, the agency continued playing on the average social media user’s need for both instant gratification and potential marketing immortality by featuring real-world messages in its ads. Smiley tounge face emoji.

PR agency Golin (the dudes behind the sexy new Hamburglar) continues to handle McD’s social, but Leo Burnett did the research required to create these consumer compilations. In the next spot, breakfast gets a bit more dramatic with the help of our friend Vivaldi and some very frustrated emojis.

Finally, the client goes with the ubiquitous “wuuuuuuuut.”

The company has been promoting this effort over the last several days via a selection of overexcited GIFs…and this one.

Media outlets, in turn, could not resist running with headlines like “I’ve been waiting 40 years for this.” It’s from a company employee, but still…free advertising! Earned media! Of course, with all this semi-manufactured excitement going on, rival brands just couldn’t resist being like…uh uh.

Several people even saw fit to mention some movie we’ve never seen.

We are almost certain that none of these were paid placements.

Now wait until influencers like @eatstyledallas discover that their tweets have been used in a national McDonald’s ad. The exposure should earn them each, like, five new followers!

Score one for user generated content.

Credits

Client: McDonald’s
Campaign: “All Day Breakfast”
Spots: “We Hear You,” “Celebration,” “Wuuuuuut,” “Sad Face”

Agency: Leo Burnett, Chicago
Executive Vice President Creative Director: John Hansa
Senior Vice President Creative Director: Tony Katalinic
Senior Vice President, Creative Directors: Gordy Sang & Brian Siedband
Art Director: Jill Solarczyk
Copywriter: Leigh Kunkel
Senior Vice President Executive Producer: Denis Giroux
Senior Producer: Beth Dolnick
Senior Business Manager: Shirley Costa
Senior Talent Manager: Linda Yuen
Talent Manager: Regina Gomez
Assistant Music Producer: Alec Stern
Managing Account Director: Rich Stoddart & Catherine Davis
Account Directors: Josh Raper, Jennifer Klopf
Account Supervisor: Richard Henderson
Assistant Account Executive : E Yiwei Zhu
Account Manager: Sue Rickey
Executive Vice President, Planning Director: Lance Koenig
Planning Director: Anca Rhone
Vice President, Senior Attorney: Laura Cooney
Associate Director, Commercial Clearance: Sina Martin-Simon

Production Company: MJZ
President: David Zander
Director: Mike Maguire
Executive Producer: Kate Leahy
Producer: Betsy Oliver

Postproduction:
Cutters
Grant Gustafson Editor, “We Hear You”
Tom Brassil Editor, “Celebration”
Michael Lippert Editor, “Wuuuuuut,” “Sad Face”

Flavor
Finish: Steve Wood

Audio production: Another Country
Engineer: Peter Erazmus

Colorist: Nice Shoes NY
Colorist: Lenny Mastrandrea

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