McDonald’s Billboards: Ingenious, Teasing and Effective

When it comes to fast food, McDonald’s is the king. You can find one just about anywhere you go. You know what you’re getting, how much it costs and how it tastes. That’s what makes McDonald’s as successful as it is.

With the millions of dollars at the disposal of its marketing department, McDonald’s regularly comes up with creative advertising. In this edition of our newsletter, we feature two of its most famous billboards in the advertising world.
 

Fast Food Sundial

The Leo Burnett ad agency designed a billboard that incorporated a sundial to show customers the proper time of the morning to consume different fast foods. Coffee, bacon Egg McMuffin, pastry, sausage Egg McMuffin, pancakes and breakfast on a bagel are shown in a descending arc, each numbered 6 through 11.

As the light shines through the sundial over the course of the morning, a shadow hits the different foods and the number, matching the time of day you might want to eat the breakfast item. This is the kind of outside the box thinking that makes passersby do a double take.

But it doesn’t just end there… the creators reached for perfection and grabbed it tight. The clincher is the shape the sundial casts on the right side of the board—the McDonald’s “M” logo. Intricate and innovative, the execution of this design is simply flawless.

 

Precise Location

The ad agency worked with an electrical engineer and a graphic design firm to pinpoint the perfect location. The engineer found the spot after several tries at a Chicago intersection close to Wrigley Field.

It provided the exact angle that let sunlight hit the billboard between 6 a.m. and noon and accurately mark the passage of time using the fast food. It was kept up from July through August, when the sun was high.
 

Norway vs Sweden

 McDonald is inventive in any language. The international fast food behemoth erected a billboard smack on the border between Norway and Sweden showing how much cheaper the Big Mac was in Sweden. (You can tell which country’s McDonald’s was behind this!)

The gentle taunt had a huge shot of the burger in the center, with balloons highlighting the price in each country. Norway is on the south side of the billboard and the balloon with the price 89 NOK (over $14 in US money) appears on the south side of the billboard. On the north side lies Sweden, and to the north of the Big Mac is a balloon with the price 59 SEK (a little over $9).   

Through out the world, businesses thrive at international borders where products or services are cheaper on one side than the other. Apparently it’s no different for fast food! For hungry Norwegians, it points the way to the best deal on a Big Mac. Just head on over to Sweden to save substantially on your delicious lunch.