Tag: Leo Burnett

Taipei, Taiwan – Fast food chain McDonald’s and agency Leo Burnett Taiwan have teamed up to create donation wallpapers, which promotes a refreshing method to the customary practice amongst Taiwanese, where purchasing receipts are dropped in ‘donation boxes’. These receipts then benefit charities like that of McDonald’s Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) as a major source of income. 

The campaign was launched as a digital alternative to the staple Uniform Invoice Lottery in Taiwan, which allows customers to get a ticket to enter the government’s Receipt Lottery, with prizes ranging from NT$200 to NT$10m. Said lottery uses physical receipts to enter, but with the rise of digital payments, they have all but disappeared, out of sight, and therefore out of mind.

To launch this campaign, McDonald’s and Leo Burnett Taiwan have tapped up-and-coming new media artists to create a series of downloadable wallpapers and inject an engaging twist to the routinary receipt donation. With 35 designs to choose from, every donation wallpaper includes a barcode, and when scanned at any cashier, the receipt is automatically donated to RMHC.

Donation Wallpapers can be scanned at retailers across Taiwan, making every transaction in any store an opportunity to donate to RMHC.

Jin Yang, creative partner at Leo Burnett Taiwan, said, “Gen Z can’t live without their phone, and the screen they see most of all is their mobile phone wallpaper. With this in mind, we came up with an idea that makes receipt donation impossible to ignore – every time someone wakes up their phone, it’s a reminder to do good.” 

Manila, Philippines – McDonald’s in the Philippines is jumping into the gaming space for its latest campaign. Called ‘Unbranded Menu’, the new campaign aims challenge gamers to hunt for McDonald’s ‘food-alikes’ across video games and then swap their inedible discoveries for actual McDonald’s items.

The campaign, made in collaboration with advertising agency Leo Burnett, began when the Philippines’ popular gaming personality Alodia Gosiengfiao found a Big Mac look-a-like inside Grand Theft Auto V and posted a screengrab of it. She then challenged her eight million followers to do the search. 

More gamers and streamers joined in and tagged their discoveries #ThisIsMcDonalds, which signalled the start of the hunt. 

Some of the Philippines’ top gamers and their fans are also already sharing pictures of unbranded and logo-free virtual food items that resemble the iconic French Fries, Big Mac, and Quarter Pounder sandwiches, amongst other McDonald’s food items. These have been found in classic video games like The Sims and Resident Evil; online multiplayer games like Fall Guys, Roblox, and PUBG; role-playing games such as Genshin Impact, Final Fantasy, The Last of Us, and Persona; and giant titles like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Cyberpunk 207, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Raoul Panes, chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe Philippines and Leo Burnett Manila, said that the campaign was targeted at connecting with the Philippines’ 40+ million strong gaming community.

“Then we stumbled upon an amazing discovery: so much food in the gaming multiverse looks just like McDonald’s products, despite being unbranded. Why not hack this unbranded space to build brand love for McDonald’s through the gamer behavior of screen-grabbing milestones and discoveries for posterity or bragging rights?” he added.

To fuel the hunt, McDonald’s has also been giving gaming credits, consoles, and other gaming merchandise in exchange for screengrabs of food-alikes with the #ThisIsMcDonalds tag.

“It has been fascinating to follow this virtual hunt and watch gamers exchanging virtual food clones for the real deal. Leo Burnett’s idea taps into the relationship between gamers and food, which is a big part of gaming culture, and helps us to connect with a huge gaming audience in the Philippines and beyond,” Oliver Rabatan, McDonald’s Philippines chief marketing officer, further explained.

Bangkok, Thailand – Leo Burnett Thailand, in collaboration with Thai Health Promotion Foundation, released a new campaign that encourages Thais to reduce their sodium intake.

The campaign featured a short space-themed film titled ‘New World’ along with the theme ‘Less salt, less disease’, which encourages its audiences to be sodium-aware and rethink their diet.

The short film’s story revolved around a group of genius space travellers, travelling for many years to find the ‘new world’ and surviving by eating sodium-rich food. It ended with the space travellers perishing just before arriving ‘new world’.

The campaign is in response to small convenience stores being widely spread all over Thailand and the labour force being used to ready-to-eat behaviour with ‘high-in-sodium’ instant and frozen foods.

‘New World’ follows the recent launch of Thai Health Promotion Foundation’s ‘Oasis’ campaign, which encourages Thais to consume less sugary drinks.

Leo Burnett Thailand has also previously released a futuristic campaign in collaboration with credit card brand First Choice, titled ‘Mafia of Digital World’.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Fast food chain McDonald’s in Indonesia has released a new ad for its new burgers–but with a twist of convincing people to taste a burger from a different part of the world instead of just promoting it as is.

The ad, conceptualised by Leo Burnett Indonesia, the film features real, relatable moments in a witty and heart-warming manner, as well as dedicated to those who are left behind, stuck at work, nursing injuries or grounded by inclement weather.

The campaign is directed by Kiran Koshy of Directors Think Tank in Malaysia. 

Ravi Shanker, chief creative officer at Leo Burnett Indonesia, said, “This was the challenge posed to the team at Leo Burnett. A couple of brainstorms later, we stumbled upon an insight. Indonesians too were bitten by the travel bug. However, not everyone can travel because life in the form of financial constraints, work pressure, family commitments or climate change was getting in the way. While travelling was a possibility in the future, right now many were missing out.”

Meanwhile, Michael Hartono, director of marcomm, CBI and digital at McDonald’s Indonesia, commented, “Taste of the World’ has always been a great platform for McDonald’s and we always look for fresh, new ways to drive relevance. We are all observing how after two years, everyone really wants to experience the true flavours of the world by travelling – but for those of us stuck at home due to practical realities, we really wanted to establish that this delicious menu is available from the comfort of your homes.”

Singapore – Leo Burnett Singapore has announced a series of appointments, starting off with the addition of Benoit Freyburger as general manager and the promotion of Arielle Brustein to head of planning. Brustein’s appointment is effective immediately, while Freyburger starts on 1 July 2022.

Under the leadership of Publicis Communications Managing Director, Joanne Theseira, the duo will work closely with Sharim Gubbels, executive creative director on leading and driving growth for the agency’s newly acquired clients – Singtel, Samsung, and a range of brands from Beam Suntory’s portfolio.

Freyburger joins Leo Burnett after three years at TBWA Singapore as Global Group Account Director. He brings 20 years of experience working across B2C and B2B remits on brands that include Standard Chartered Bank, Microsoft, Unilever, and Holcim across the Middle East, Europe and Asia. 

Meanwhile, Brustein has been with Leo Burnett for thirteen years, working at Leo Burnett Chicago, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, and has made her home in Singapore since 2018. With experience across a large portfolio of brands including McDonald’s, SK-II, Pfizer and Cathay, she will be bringing Leo Burnett’s HumanKind proposition to life across the agency’s client portfolio.

Theseira said, “Leo Burnett’s human-centred point of view is rooted firmly in what people want and care about. It’s an approach to business that has found deep resonance with clients, and fortunately for us, also with these fantastic talents. We’re very lucky to have them join us on our journey as we continue to see a period of significant growth.”

The agency has also strengthened its bench with the appointment of Wong Woei as account director, Michael Middleton as creative director, and the promotions of Adela Andrei to group account director, and Claudia Ribeiro and Weicong Chong to creative directors.

Bangkok, Thailand – Credit card brand First Choice in Thailand together with creative agency Leo Burnett Thailand has launched a new campaign titled ‘Mafia of Digital World’, a futuristic tale that promotes the ‘XU by First Choice’ credit card to a generation of digital natives.

The campaign is directed by Bhakpong Skonvitayanon at B1 Films and stars Ink Warunthone, one of Thailands popular female artist. It is set in a surreal world ruled by a demanding mafia boss who has a penchant for ‘collabs’ and unboxing. When her excessive demands exceed her budget, she faces an army of budget cutters, and the chaos begins.

Athip Sinpagekan, EVP head of marketing at First Choice, said that as natives of the digital world, Gen Z can control their whole world with just their fingertips. 

“Many of their demands or desires occur totally on digital platforms – they have so much freedom of thought and independence, which is why we launched ‘XU by First Choice’ – a credit card that makes it easy for younger generations to connect with new lifestyles online,” Sinpagekan said.

The agency said that XU by First Choice is a credit card that targets young and digital-savvy audience. The benefits it offers ranging from 0% interest for online purchases for up to 6 months to monthly e-coupons that can be redeemed online, cash back of up to 18% for online shopping, plus online purchase protection and spending alerts.

Meanwhile, Sarut Yungcharoen, group creative director at Leo Burnett Thailand, commented, To get Gen Z’s attention, we created a fantastical world that’s ruled by an all-powerful mafia boss, played by one of the most famous female artists in Thailand, especially for Gen Z.”

“It’s an unconventional approach from a brand that is passionate about tailoring its products to the needs of a younger audience, and isn’t afraid to break category norms to get their attention,” Yungcharoen added.

The ‘Mafia of Digital World’ follows the recent launch of ‘Metaverrrrrr’, a parody of making the world’s first metaverse commercial to promote First Choice credit cards.

Australia – Financial services brand Suncorp Insurance has launched a new campaign called ‘Resilience Road’, which aims to demonstrate and educate how resilient thinking can help save a home from the impact of ever-increasing climate events.

The campaign, which was developed in partnership with advertising agency Leo Burnett, was designed through the use of the data and insights from last year’s One House project by Suncorp. Assessing five houses in one of Australia’s most disaster-prone towns, Rockhampton, the campaign highlights how families could make resilience their next renovation. 

Moreover, Suncorp and Leo Burnett have also worked with The Glue Society to create a fully integrated content system that people can use, learn, and apply to their own homes. The project team has seen a transformation in the families that took part in how they looked at preparing for natural disasters and how much more control they could have over their fate.

Suncorp has also unveiled the Resilience Road Hub, a virtual demonstration of the project and a place where people can learn about upgrades to make to their own homes.

Mim Haysom, Suncorp’s executive general manager of brand and marketing, shared, “Following on from the success of One House, we created Resilience Road with the intention of taking the elements of our One House prototype into the real world, and to demonstrate how some relatively small and simple changes to your home could be the difference between your home surviving a severe weather event or not. 

“You can see from the reaction of the families we supported through the process, how transformative this thinking can be. Not just for one home, but for whole communities,” said Haysom. 

Meanwhile, Andy Fergusson, Leo Burnett’s executive creative director, said, “Since the inception of One House, our vision and ambition has always been to democratise resilience and make it accessible to all Australians. Resilience Road is yet another step in making our homes and community as resilient as possible.”

The campaign will run in Queensland across broadcast television, radio, online, and across social.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Fast food chain McDonald’s in Malaysia has launched a new campaign at the shopping and entertainment district of Kuala Lumpur, Bukit Bintang. In it, the fast food chain unveiled its first ever iconic McDonald’s Fries crosswalk, as it leads visitors straight into Malaysia’s first McDonald’s restaurant.

Conceptualised alongside creative agency Leo Burnett, the official approval and rollout of the ‘fries’ crosswalk took seven months to complete and also coincides with McDonald’s Malaysia’s 40th anniversary which aims to reinvigorate Bukit Bintang’s intersection and spark feel-good moments to all pedestrians. 

In addition, this iconic crosswalk is the start of a larger campaign with consumer activations to help further generate buzz and encourage social fan truths.

Melati Abdul Hai, vice president and chief marketing officer at McDonald’s Malaysia, said, “At McDonalds, we are always looking for creative ways to create feel-good moments for Malaysians. So, when our partner creative agency, Leo Burnett, shared the idea to marry the iconic Bukit Bintang crossing with our global McDonald visual icon, our French Fries, we were excited to bring it to life. Our hope is that this Fries Crosswalk will add to the beauty of Kuala Lumpur and put smiles on pedestrians’ faces by making simple routines such as crossing the road a ‘feel-good’ moment.”

Meanwhile, Neil Hudspeth, CEO of Publicis Groupe Malaysia and McDonald’s global client lead for Asia-Pacific, commented, “I love the idea. It’s simple, powerful, disruptive and iconic. There are very few brands in the world today that have this heady combination of creative authority and customer love, and the crosswalk is a powerful example of the love Malaysians have for McDonald’s, as well as a genuine reflection of how well embedded the brand is into our culture. Bringing back fun to Bukit Bintang, one fry at a time is just incredible. We talk about little moments of love made easy for everyone, and what better way to bring this to life.”

Australia – Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales, NSW Government, has launched a new tourism campaign, Feel New, which is a series of emotionally charged films aimed at exploring individual feelings experienced by travellers to New South Wales.

The series of films, which was developed by tourism and major events agency Destination NSW with creative agency Leo Burnett, spotlights on seven feelings most sought after by consumers – ‘joy’, ‘connection’, ‘freedom’, ‘awe’, ‘rejuvenation’, ‘belonging’, and ‘adventure’ – reaffirming NSW’s position as the feel-good state. It also aligns with the overarching ‘Feel New’ brand. 

Moreover, extensions of scenes from the Feel New TV spot have been reimagined in the seven Feeling Films, with each aligning to a single hero feeling. NSW landscapes and cultural encounters feature in the campaign extension, with each film featuring a bespoke remix of the official Feel New soundtrack, ‘Feeling Good’, which was re-imagined by Azure Ryder to make the audience feel the emotional experience that the film represents.

Stuart Ayres, the minister for enterprise, investment and trade, minister for tourism and sport, and minister for Western Sydney, believes that the time was right to take a more emotive-led approach to market the NSW visitor economy.

“The Feel New film series captures all the things I love about our State. It invites everyone to get out and appreciate the beauty and wonder of NSW and promises a return to the excitement and adventure that we all need to feel again,” said Ayres.

Meanwhile, James Walker-Smith, Leo Burnett’s general manager, noted that the Feel New strategy sets NSW apart from other competitor states and gives NSW a distinct advantage when targeting travel intenders.

“Destination NSW has really shifted its approach when it comes to how they promote the state, moving from being a destination brand, which is where many travel brands continue to operate, into the culture brand space. By creating a brand which is feelings-led, they’ve created a brand for the future that at the same time, is the ultimate antidote for the world right now,” said Walker-Smith.

Steve Cox, Destination NSW’s CEO, shared that the Feel New film series continued the fresh new approach to the tourism and major event agency’s strategy for promoting NSW.

“The strategic thinking behind Feel New was to tap into this consumer desire to feel; to build an enduring creative platform to market and promote NSW through its many and varied cultural and natural experiences, which are powerfully captured in these films,” said Cox.

Taipei, Taiwan – Playing on the Chinese New Year tradition of using fortune sticks to get predictions and fortune, potato chips brand Lay’s in Taiwan took this step further: by using artificial intelligence and their own line of potato chips.

Through Lay’s Fortune Telling ‘lucky cam’, users can scan a single chip and then the ‘lucky cam’ telling you how much luck you will enjoy in 2022 overall, and what to expect in five areas of your life – Wealth, Health, Love, Family and School.

Some of those predictions include ‘You may be like a god in stock investments’, ‘You will laugh all year long’ and ‘Your year-end bonus is incalculable’.

The campaign was conceptualised alongside Leo Burnett Taiwan, where the agency first had to teach artificial intelligence (AI) technology to recognise whether different objects really are chips or not. Over 5,000 chip samples were used to train the AI and create data sets. This meant photographing 5,000 chips and painstakingly tracing their edges, nooks and crinkles. With between 1,500 and 2,000 data points in every outline, it took between three and five minutes to document each chip by hand. 

From here, the agency created a vast database of fortune-telling sentences by using web-scraping and social listening programs to collect popular buzzwords relating to the five fortune categories. According to the agency’s social listening database, getting a raise or a bonus, attaining ‘financial freedom’ or getting an ‘All Pass’ to every subject are popular topics among Gen Z in the lead up to Chinese New Year.

Yuan Chuang, creative director at Leo Burnett Taiwan, said, “Fortune telling sticks are a well-known Chinese New Year custom. We wondered if we could modernize this tradition and connect it with Lay’s product in a way that helps Lay’s to engage with Gen Z digital natives. We challenged ourselves to use machine learning to do something that’s never been done before: could we tell people’s fortunes using something as unexpected and silly as the shape of potato chips.”

Meanwhile, Tina Liu, marketing head at Lay’s Taiwan, commented, “People think their fortunes are written in the stars, but now they are written in a packet of Lay’s chips. It has been lots of fun working with the team at Leo Burnett Taiwan to build a new consumer habit of buying Lay’s during Chinese New Year. We hope you will give Lay’s Fortune Telling Chips a try, and we wish you huge five-star luck in 2022.”

Divided into four levels of luck and five fortune categories, the Lay’s Fortune Telling Chips web experience delivers over one million fortune combinations. This ensures each fortune is unique no matter how many chips are scanned or eaten along the way.