Research showed that McDonald’s was losing its cultural and emotional relevance with Americans. After a few years of leveraging communication to focus on food news and value messaging, the brand recognized this as an opportunity to give people a reason to feel like McDonald’s is a brand for them.

In McDonald’s first integrated brand campaign in over three years, we wanted to show the United States just what the brand stands for. The objective was to create a first-of-its-kind social series and book that would restore customer love and devotion for the brand by bringing to life one simple truth: that at any given moment, thousands of people are sharing a meal at McDonald’s. And no matter how different we are—where we’re from, how old we are, or what language we speak—we have more in common than we think.

We partnered with world-renowned photographer Mark Seliger, sending him across the country to capture the real portraits and stories of over 70 McDonald’s customers. From their stories—their favorite McDonald’s moments, memories, and traditions—customers were paired together based on their unexpected commonalities and In Common was created.

Through Seliger’s portraiture, the ordinary customers who walk through our doors every day were elevated to an extraordinary collection of commonalities. This book encompasses not only our customers’ experiences, but the moments we’ve all shared at McDonald’s. We hope it serves as a constant reminder that beyond McDonald’s, we have more in common than we think.

McDonald’s is ingrained in American culture. No matter who we are or where we’re from, there are universal experiences we’ve all shared with the restaurant and its food. Which is why this book was created entirely out of our iconic packaging. By using Big Mac boxes, fry boxes, and even our bags, each item reveals another layer of commonality for our readers.

The book is intentionally divided into two sections. The first showcases the most visually captivating portraits, telegraphically communicating that we all have McDonald’s in common. And the second lets readers discover the commonalities we share beyond the brand.

We published 1,000 books as a thank-you to McDonald’s franchise owner-operators, with a limited-edition version published for McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago.

Internally, the book served as a thank-you to all of the restaurant owner-operators. For the first time, we flipped the script on our usually food-focused messaging to celebrate the people who make our brand what it is today.

Beyond the book, we launched the In Common portrait series on Instagram, taking advantage of the world’s most visually captivating social media platform. Each pair and their stories were posted as a carousel unit in an ongoing social series that lasted 5 months. At mcdonalds.com/incommon, we created a mobile-first interactive gallery featuring nearly 100 McDonald’s customers with more in common than they could’ve imagined.

Throughout the entire integrated campaign, nearly 525mm impressions drove social brand favorability 81% above average.