In a world of mounting pressure, an invitation to McDonald's is a moment to feel good. However, we noticed something. An invitation to McDonald's is so universal that it can be communicated without words, food, or restaurants.

All it takes is a knowing look.

We claimed ownership of that knowing look with a film that instantly went viral. The spot features a group of office workers inviting each other to enjoy a moment of release at McDonald's by raising their eyebrows at one another. Before long, the whole office is conspiring together to create one epic feel-good moment.

Now, anytime anyone raises their eyebrows, it can only mean one thing.

Fancy a McDonald's?

Over the past three years, McDonald's has been building the brand platform "Fancy a McDonald's?" in the UK. This platform was created based on the insight that being invited to McDonald's is a moment to relieve life's pressures and feel good.

Our challenge was to reimagine this platform by finding new meaning and emotions associated with the McDonald's brand. To achieve this, we conducted extensive ethnographic research with McDonald's brand enthusiasts. This research led us to a creative insight that an invitation to McDonald's is so common that it can often be communicated without any words.

With this insight in mind, our goal was to bring it to life in the most creatively impactful way possible.

Did it work? Oh Yeah!

In just over one month, "Raise Your Arches" became a cultural trend that had the world talking about it, with YouGov Buzz Scores double any other McDonald’s UK campaign. It also took our advertising to new emotional heights, with an ‘emotional intensity’ score of 1.65 vs a norm of 1.26 (System 1). And having previously stagnated, ‘Brand Love’ scores are now back in growth because of the ‘Raise Your Arches’ campaign.

Beyond the frenzied industry conversation, the buzz also extended into culture. The film instantly went viral with over 162 million views. "Raise Your Arches" content frequently trended on TikTok, inspiring well over 2.5 million pieces of user-generated content. In total, the campaign generated over 1.1 billion impressions with over 35 countries taking part.

The campaign was also a huge commercial success, contributing to a sales increase of 7.1% and over £45million incremental revenue.

In the UK and many other places around the world, people commonly use a double eyebrow raise as a physical expression to convey a sense of playful conspiracy and mischief.

We noticed that the visual of two raised eyebrows bore an immediate and unmistakable resemblance to the iconic Golden Arches of McDonald's. By linking these two elements together in such a visceral way, we established ownership of that expression. As a result, every time someone raises their eyebrows, they associate it with McDonald's.