We've seen various brands drop their logo on adverts lately, and McDonald's is the latest to release a spot with almost no branding at all. The campaign features a series of 30- and 10-inch films that show McDonald's breakfast set to cinematic music, featuring a voiceover that points out how its deliberately not going to talk about what's on screen. The spots end with 'Breakfast, done properly' and while they don't feature a graphic logo, they do include McDonald's famous audio logo, which is a clever move for anyone not so familiar with McDonald's hash browns.
The campaign by Leo Burnett UK follows research that showed that up to 90 per cent of people were able to identify McDonald's breakfast products without any branding. I can't help but feel that the spots may also have been influenced by the latest trends in no-logo advertising, although McDonald's does have form when it comes to hiding its logo, and arguably invented this trend.
The campaign is running across various touchpoints, including TV, OOH, radio and social, as well as in-store. The radio version is particularly interesting, as obviously there are no images to look at. Instead, a voiceover invites people to "Think of a breakfast muffin with sausage and egg. Yep, that’s the one. Picture it now. Doesn't it look delicious?" There is also no name of the brand mentioned, though the audio logo will also be used to guide people.
"There’s nothing on earth like a McDonald’s breakfast," say James Hodson and Jason Keet, creative directors at Leo Burnett UK. "You can spot a McMuffin from miles away. Think of a hash brown. We bet it’s a McDonald’s hash brown. So we thought our job was to just get out of the way. No logo. No product names. No catchy copy. Just the shapes and textures that we all know and love."
I think this is another clever move from Leo Burnett. It's less controversial than the recent Stormzy campaign, which got a lot of people talking, and it focuses in on what McDonald's is actually offering – food.
Having never actually eaten a McDonald's breakfast (I know), these ads aren't really appealing to me, in fact some of them are putting me off my dinner... but I'm sure that they will work well for those who are already fans of McMuffins and the like, and will serve to remind those people to order one in the near future.
Rosie Hilder is Creative Bloq's Deputy Editor. After beginning her career in journalism in Argentina – where she worked as Deputy Editor of Time Out Buenos Aires – she moved back to the UK and joined Future Plc in 2016. Since then, she's worked as Operations Editor on magazines including Computer Arts, 3D World and Paint & Draw and Mac|Life. In 2018, she joined Creative Bloq, where she now assists with the daily management of the site, including growing the site's reach, getting involved in events, such as judging the Brand Impact Awards, and helping make sure our content serves the reader as best it can.
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