Fast food and sustainability don't go together in people's minds. So how do you credibly communicate that McDonald's has saved over 2,000 tonnes of plastic since 2019 by changing its packaging in Germany alone? Through the first McDonald's campaign that not only tells of sustainability successes, but also consistently lives them: integrated, attention-grabbing and with consistent eco-efficient media planning. Shorter spots, eco-certified advertising-media and media-first murals, true to the message "plastic kicks the bucket" made of ecological wood and air-purifying paint. The result: 179% more trust in McDonald's sustainability projects(1) and tons less CO2 compared to a classically planned campaign.(2)

ECO-BALANCE IS BECOMING ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CRITERIA FOR BRAND TRUST.

For 45%, improving sustainable actions is a decisive argument for trusting a brand(3). No wonder that sustainability is becoming more central in advertising.

BUT FAST FOOD AND SUSTAINABILITY? DOESN'T GO TOGETHER IN PEOPLE'S MINDS.

1/3 Germans consider the sustainability communication of fast-food-restaurants to be untrustworthy. Even worse: only 14% perceive McDonald's as an environmentally conscious brand.(4)

YET MCDONALD'S IS WELL ON THE WAY TO ACHIEVING GREAT THINGS.

Because what many people don't know: McDonald's has saved over 2,000 tonnes of plastic since 2019 in Germany alone by switching to virtually plastic-free packging for McFlurry® & Co. for example. By 2025, 100% of all sales packaging should be made from renewable, recycled or degradable materials - worldwide.(5)

THE TASK IS CLEAR: PEOPLE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT MCDONALD'S IS ALREADY TAKING SERIOUS STEPS ON THE PATH TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE.

PEOPLE ARE FED UP WITH INSUBSTANTIAL PROMISES.

Often experienced and more important than ever: If a brand does not keep its promises today, it gambles away people's trust - today and tomorrow. And that is only sustainable for the brand in a negative sense. If you want to win and keep people's trust, you have to prove sustainability.

A CAMPAIGN FOR SUSTAINABILITY MUST NOT ITSELF BE UNSUSTAINABLE.

In order to credibly communicate McDonald's progress in terms of sustainable action and to anchor it in people's minds, this action must become visible to people. When we talk about sustainability, we can only do so credibly if the communication itself is sustainable. In other words, if "plastic-free packaging" is to reach people, we cannot print the message on posters containing plastic.

SO? THE COMMUNICATION ABOUT CHANGING PACKAGING MUST BE JUST AS ECO-EFFICIENT AND PLASTIC-FREE AS THE PACKAGING ITSELF.

"PLASTIC KICKS THE BUCKET" - A CAMPAIGN OPTIMISED FOR CO2 EFFICIENCY THAT RUNS COMPLETELY WITHOUT PLASTIC.

When McDonald's Germany eliminates plastic from its products by changing its packaging, we do the same in our communication: The core message? "Plastic kicks the bucket". The media planning? Also without plastic.

ECO-EFFICIENCY BEATS MEDIA EFFECTIVNESS SO THAT THE MEDIA CAN BECOME THE MESSAGE.

Across all channels, we consistently optimise the campaign for CO2 efficiency - with an innovative analysis approach that transparently calculates the ecological footprint of every medium and advertising medium based on vendor and environmental data. This is the benchmark for all campaign components - and we base everything on it. Even if this means that we sometimes have to violate the laws of effectiveness for image campaigns with decisions on formats, placements and spot lengths.

THE RESULT IS AN INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN THAT KEEPS MCDONALD'S ECO-EFFICIENT SUSTAINABILITY PROMISE ACROSS ALL CHANNELS...

SHORTER ONLINE SPOTS CAUSE LESS CO2? LET'S MAKE THEM SHORTER!

For online and social video, we reduced the spot length from the usual 30-45 seconds for image campaigns to eco-efficient 10 seconds.

WE ONLY PRINT ON CERTIFIED ADVERTISING MEDIA.

When selecting print titles, we paid specific attention to recycled paper, FSC certification and ecolabels.

NEVER SEEN BEFORE: MURALS MADE OF ECOLOGICAL WOOD AND PHOTOCATALYTIC PAINT.

In Berlin and Cologne, house façade-sized wooden murals provided plastic-free media-first highlights: The two different campaign motifs were visible on triangular, vertical wooden slats (depending on the viewing angle). The two-phase animation could easily be described as "analogue moving image without emissions from digital billboards". And it was particularly sustainable, thanks to air-purifying (so-called photocatalytic) paint. The wood of the murals murals was sold after the campaign, the proceeds were donated.

SMALL MEASURES THAT ADD UP TO BIG THINGS IN THE LONG RUN.

ALMOST ONE-IN-TWO PEOPLE NOW SAY MCDONALD'S IS ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS.

The campaign has made people rethink: instead of 14%, 39% say that McDonald's acts sustainably. That is 2.8x as many as before (+179%).(6)

ALTHOUGH BRAND TRUST HAS TO BE CONSIDERED OVER THE LONG TERM AND A DEVELOPMENT CAN RARELY BE READ IMMEDIATELY, OUR APPROACH CREATES A SIGNIFICANT BOOST FOR(7):

+22% brand sympathy

+15% brand trust

+17% authenticity & sincerity

MOST IMPORTANTLY, OUR SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATIONS ARE THEMSELVES SUSTAINABLE – AND GO BEYOND BRAND KPIs.

The shorter video ads saved 3.5 tonnes of CO2. That’s as much as a flight from Los Angeles to Cannes. Roundtrip.(8) The wooden mural filtered as much air as 14,000m2 of forest do per day. That is as much as two soccer fields.(9) And the recycled paper used in the print ads reduced emissions by 15%.(10)

OVERALL WE REDUCED EMISSIONS FOR AN ADVERTISING CONTACT BY 64.7% ON AVERAGE.