Advertisement – Ideas for Social Impact

MCD’s Golden Arch Design

McDonald’s, the biggest fast-food chain in the world, is easily recognizable with its logo. With its long brand history beside us, we can easily spot the brand even with small parts of its logo. Their ads won awards and got viral over and over. Here are some best practices that might help you earn insights.

Drive Safe. Never Hungry(DDB Prague, Prague, Czech Republic)

McDonald’s Czech Republic used the Arch to stress “safety” while driving. The Arch is repurposed as a part of a visual that demonstrates the safety guidelines for a driver.

Social Distancing(DPZ&T, Brazil)

McDonald’s in Brazil separated the brand’s iconic Golden Arches.

Against the coronavirus pandemic, McDonald’s Brazil has split its Golden Arches into two to promote and encourage social distancing. According to the brand, the separated logo conveys the meaning that “we are separated for a moment so that we can always be together”. (AdAge)

I’m Lovin Summer (DDB, Sydney, Australia)

Summer is the beloved season in Australia. It’s also the season for water sports, ice cream, and outdoor activities. In the ad, McDonald’s combined their logo with summer items so that consumers can remind the brand with summer.

Other Visual Ads

Follow the Arches – Next Exit(Cosette Toronto, Canada)

The ad is comprised of four pieces: “Next Exit”; “Just Missed Us”; “On Your Left”; and “On Your Right”. The Arch in the billboard ads is cur part to guide hungry motorists to its nearest outlet.

Iftar Sand Clocks(Leo Burnett, Saudi Arabia)

The sand lock falls down for 12 hours, the period of fasting. The fell grains slowly compose a McDonald’s meal. After 12 hours, customers can break the fast and enjoy the meal.

The Right Way(TBWA, Paris)

French fries become a signage to guide direction. With its minimalism design approach, McDonald’s French fries are transformed into directional arrows.

Open Late(Leo Burnett, Italy)

McDonald’s promotes the late opening of its restaurants with their food image. Fries and hamburger buns are used t o illustrate different phases of the moon.

McCafe(Leo’s Thjnk Tank, Germany)

The golden arch shapes the tired and wide-open eyes. The comparison shows that McCafe can help you beat tiredness.

If you see the signs, you are probably hungry(DDB Athens, Greece)

The Arch dimly shows up in the poster. City lights, traffic back lights, skid marks form the Golden Arch. This ad tells that when you are hungry, you see the things that you crave.

Moving Day Campaign(Cosette Toronto, Canada)

In celebration of July 1, or “Moving Day” in Quebec, McDonald’s came up with an ad that shows the rear view of a wide-open truck. Furniture and household items compose best known dishes of McDonald’s – Big Mac, Mac morning, and fries.

Mobile Odering is HERE(Cossette, Canada)

The design is simple, but the image that the ad casts is vivid. The color and shape of stacked phones reflects something that we know well – bic Mac, fries, and mac morning. This ad tells us that when you need McDonald’s, you can have them at your hand.

Consumer Skepticism

Consumers often don’t believe all of marketers’ words. They have negative attitudes towards the motives of or claims made by advertisers.

According to a study conducted by Calfee and Ringold(1994), 70% of consumers thought that advertising persuades people to buy things they do not want. Another study done by Mangleburg and Bristol(1998) found that adolescents who learned more about advertisers’ persuasion tactics became more skeptic about advertising.

Advertising, Too many and too intrusive

Consumers, or we, are invaded by annoying digital ads and push alerts daily for uncountable times. This makes consumers more tired of and doubtful about brands in self-promotion. Advertised content seems meaningless or even untruthful.

person standing beside wall during daytime — Photo by Jo San Diego on Unsplash

This lays paradox. Consumers – especially Millennials and Gen Z – sometimes doubt well-advertised brands or their products. When brands create more buzz through influencer marketing or media advertising, they could make negative impact on some consumers.

woman selecting packed food on gondola — Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

Ad blocking is on the rise

The problem is, doubtful consumers not only trust ads, but also eliminate the chances of ads to win impression in the first place. According to PageFair and Blockthrough, more than 527 million people around the world have an ad blocker installed on their mobile devices, up 64% since 2016(Blockthrough).

Gen Z consumers are more skeptical

According to a new national survey by BBMG and GlobeScan, by a 5-to-1 ratio, the leading edge of Gen Z does not trust business to act in the best interests of society. They often disregard brands that do not offer a genuine connection.

Think of recent criticism against Apple’s decision to opt out wall chargers and earbuds in its new iPhone 12 boxes. Though Apple claimed that they decided to exclude chargers and earbuds to reduce mining, packaging, and carbon dioxide emissions, many criticized their decision to ditch chargers was only to save costs, not the planet.

Key to win trust from doubtful consumers

Skeptical consumers are less likely to rely on advertisement, but they buy others’ words. They rather put value on reviews, not what the brand says. This is where organic content comes in: let consumers talk, not the brand.

person using black iPad — Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash

Towards more authentic and relatable content

UGC(User-Generated Content): Leveraging the voice of consumers, UGCs can help a brand or product seem more authentic and credible, thus influence their attitude towards brands or purchase decision. For example, Airbnb uses stories from hosts and travelers to engage their audience more authentically.

Native ads: In other words, native advertising is paid content. The company pay for the content, but the content is well aligned with contextual style and tone, or provides useful information that consumers are seeking. This is what makes native ads hard to spot.

Become genuine

Consumers become smarter and smarter. We can compare the product quality, price, reviews in real-time, and easily detect whether the brand is lying or telling the truth.

The good point is, when consumers truly resonate with the content, they share it voluntarily. This user-generated content will produce another one, generating bigger influence. A simple old rule goes same in the marketing strategy. Be trustful to win trust. And happy customers will become your own influencers.