Leo Burnett London and McDonald’s create spoof Hype brand ‘Schnuggs’ to launch their hottest new product Spicy Chicken McNuggets

Cristina Blanaru Ads, Creativity

McDonald’s and Leo Burnett London launched an amusing campaign called ‘Schnuggs’ celebrating the release of new Spicy Chicken McNuggets, their hottest new product launch and the latest addition to its menu, available for seven weeks.

The campaign comprises a mixture of food focused content and short films showing models wearing custom made Spicy Chicken McNuggets apparel in aid of the hottest collaboration of the year – Spicy X Chicken McNuggets = Schnuggs. Drawing upon the love of Chicken McNuggets, the campaign is targeted at 16-24year olds and aims to tap into the cult-like brands this age group is infatuated by.

With brands like Supreme having consumers queuing outside stores from the early hours of the morning for the latest product drop, the campaign draws upon this culture to create a spoof clothing brand modelling the Spicy Chicken McNuggets.

The combination of this affinity driving content is supported by a burn visual identity that hit press and social a week before the campaign to tease spice lovers of the latest product release from McDonald’s. The intrigue was over on Wednesday 7th August with mysterious burn holes in the Metro announced the launch of Spicy Chicken McNuggets at McDonald’s.

Soon to become the most talked about food launch of the year, the social campaign will run across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Further supported on Snapchat with a hilarious Spicy Chicken McNugget Face Lens that allows users to turn their face into a fire breathing Spicy Chicken McNugget. If this is not enough fun for you, the campaign will also feature Snapchat Marker Tech, one of the latest innovations in augmented reality which will bring the OOH posters to life through Snapchat

A series of GIFs and stickers have also been created that will live across digital channels allowing consumers to engage and interact with one another using the hot social currency.

Liz Whitbread, McDonald’s:

The Spicy Chicken McNuggets campaign is a very exciting product launch for us. An existing innovation to one of our most loved products and with Schnuggs, we’ve got a campaign to match.

Graham Lakeland, Creative Director Leo Burnett London:

We drew inspiration from these cult-like brands that have this young audience going crazy for their latest product.  Therefore, creating a spoof ‘hype beast’ clothing brand to model our new Spicy McNuggets felt like a great fit. This, coupled with a mixture of food-focused posts helps us create a buzz to become one of the most talked about foods this year.

Credits

  • Agency: Leo Burnett London
  • Agency contact: Alice Slade, Business Development Manager
  • Client name: Tom O’Neill – Marketing Manager, Liz Whitbread – Brand Manager, Harry McLean – Campaign Assistant
  • Creative Director: Graham Lakeland
  • Creative: Aaron Taylor
  • Planner/CSU Director: Carl Juresic, Adriana Ferran, Linnea Berglund
  • Designer: Paul Reddington, Sam Kallen
  • Photographer: Myles New
  • Photographer’s agent: Trayler & Trayler Ltd
  • Media agency: OMD
  • Media planner: Katie Griffiths
  • Production company: Prodigious
  • Director: Keziah Quarcoo
  • Audio Post Production: Prodigious
  • Post Production: Prodigious

McDonald’s has run its business in the UK since 1974 and currently operates just over 1,300 restaurants across the UK. McDonald’s is one of the UK’s largest private sector employers, employing over 130,000 people. It is estimated to provide 70,000 jobs to young people aged 16-25, making it one of the largest employers of young people in the UK.

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