It’s been a big year for DDB New Zealand. And it’s finishing on a high note with the launch of a massive new McDonald’s retail campaign in Australia and New Zealand that features (well, kind of) Shane Warne.
The crux of the campaign is that McDonald’s new limited edition chicken range is ‘so tasty it sells itself’, which means there’s no real need for a spokesman. Obviously, this is a shame for their spokesman, Shane Warne, or Wayne Bourne, or whoever the hell he is, because he’s constantly being removed overshadowed by the product.
DDB NZ’s managing director Justin Mowday says the DDB offices in Auckland and Sydney both share the creative workload on McDonald’s briefs, with Aussie campaigns often running over here and New Zealand campaigns occasionally running over there.
“When a large, significant brief comes in, the best idea rises to the top,” he says.
McDonald’s had already signed Warne up as a spokesman before the agencies were briefed (and he has no idea how much they paid for the privilege). They were tasked with finding the best, most interesting way to use him. Or, not to use him, as the case may be.
Mowday says it’s a significant product for Macca’s, so they’re going all out, with collateral across a variety of platforms (the online execution where you can remove him from the ad is a gem). It’s a massive campaign for the agency, too, and he says a big team worked on it, creating “everything from the top to the bottom, right down to the tray mats”, as the video shows.
Mowday believes it’s also quite a brave campaign, both because of the self-reflexive treatment it has been given and because of the choice of celebrity. As he says, Warne is basically the Tiger Woods of cricket and part of his large appeal has come about as a result of some less than classy behaviour. But he says McDonald’s would have weighed those risks up before they secured his services (Mowday wouldn’t comment on the fact that Warne appears to have secured the services of Liz Hurley and says it hasn’t affected the campaign).
While it’s brave for McDonald’s, Mowday says it was also quite risky for Warne, who needed to fully embrace the self-deprecating tone for the campaign to work.
“He was a great sport and good fun. This category is so competitive and there’s so much activity, so getting cut-through is paramount,” he says.
Credits:
DDB NEW ZEALAND:
Group Executive Creative Director : Toby Talbot
Creatives: Jonathan McMahon, Lisa Fedyszyn, Paul Kim, Steve Hansen
Head of Art: Dave Brady
Digital Creative: Ben Barnes
Group Business Director: Zoe Alden
Business Director: Susie Darling
Senior Business Manager: Kate Eveleigh
McDONALD’S:
VP/Director of Marketing : Madeleine Fitzpatrick
National Marketing Manager : Nicki Lambert
Brand Manager : Nathan James
Assistant Brand Manager : Paba Wijayaratne
National Marketing Manager (NZ) : Nikki Jeffcote
PRODUCTION:
PRODUCER: Pip Mayne
PRODUCTION CO: The Sweet Shop NZ
DIRECTOR: Mark Lever
PRODUCER: Lynnette Gordon
DOP: Danny Pope
EDITOR: Michael Lonsdale
ART DIRECTOR: Sal Boucher
FOOD SHOOTING:
PRODUCTION CO: Carnival Films
DIRECTOR/DOP: Viv Scanu
PRODUCER: Ben Flaxman
SOUND
PRODUCTION CO: Liquid
COMPOSER: Peter Van Der Fluit
Post Production & City: FSM, Sydney