2020 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Challenges and Goals:
In 2018, McDonalds Canada entered into a multi-year, multifaceted partnership with the Toronto Raptors. As the Raptors’ playoff run captured hearts and minds across Canada and ultimately led to a showdown against the Golden State Warriors in the finals, the brand looked to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunity to drive engagement and brand love.

Insight and Strategy:
McDonalds’ logo is so iconic that “The Golden Arches” is a literal substitute for saying “McDonalds.” Such universal recognition of “The Golden Arches” is an incredible brand asset. So to support the Raptors as they faced-off against their archrivals – the Golden State Warriors – the team dropped the golden state of its arches, for the first time ever.

Execution:
Within 24 hours the brand removed the Golden colour from its logo and produced a completely socially-led campaign to take advantage of this unique moment in time.

Somewhat ironically, the team had designed a new logo behind the Raptors sponsorship with a very simple and clever design twist. It extended the Golden Arches to graphically mimic the effect of following a bouncing basketball – bringing McDonald’s and the Raptors together with a new design system. Changing this logo from gold to white gave the brand the perfect way to bring the new Goldenless Arches idea to life.

The team flooded McDonald’s social feeds with simple gifs, six-second graphic ads, static posts and fans took it from there. Organically reposting and sharing this content thousands of times. The brand extended the idea by quickly removing the gold colour from the Arches across several other touch points including the McDonald’s App, T-shirts and hats for crewmembers and even changing the physical restaurant signage in select high-traffic areas.

Results:
McDonald’s saw more than three million media impressions from national media coverage including City TV and CTV news report. The initial post in Game 1 generated over 70,000 views in just 1 day – all completely organically driven (there was no paid social support during the campaign).

Credits

Title: Goldenless Arches

Agency: Cossette
Global Chief Creative Officer(s): Carlos Moreno, Peter Ignazi
Group Creative Director: Jon Freir
Creative Director(s): Jordan Cohen, Kevin Filliter
Copywriter(s): Darby Clarke, Jordan Cohen
Art Director: Kevin Filliter
Designer(s): David Tang, Eric Wood
Studio Director/Print Producer: Raquel Mullen
Senior Production Artist(s): Shireen Kok, Graham Washer
Senior Retoucher: Trevor Gauthier
Motion Graphics Designer: Gwen Ng
Account Supervisor: Valerie Mascarin
Account Executive: Ali Cook
Integrated Project Manager: Jess Crighton
Director of Content: Youri Hollier
Group Business Director: Tina Haessler
VP Business Lead: Geoff Wilton
SVP, Managing Director: Kathy McGuire

Production House: Soda
Editor(s): Reginald Grey, Mike Colangelo
Producer: Haley Stefan

Media Agency: OMD Canada
Associate Director of Strategy: Logan Linsday
Senior Strategist: Leah Burke

Client: McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited
Chief Marketing Officer: Antoinette Benoit
Marketing Officer: Hope Bagozzi
Senior Marketing Manager, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada: Chuck Coolen
Regional Marketing Supervisor, Ontario and Atlantic Canada: Andrew Mumford
Marketing Supervisor, Ontario: Cathy Begley
Senior Manager: Media, CRM & Partnerships: Solange Bernard
Social Media Consultant: Logan Kazman

Client: MLSE
Senior Director of Global Partnerships: Galen Davis
Manager Global Partnerships: Mike Annecchini

Client: NBA
Senior Director, Marketing Partnerships: Leah MacNab
Director, Business Development: Dave Keeley