McDonald’s Playland takes over Circular Quay
More than three stories high and taking up the entire forecourt of Customs House at Sydney’s Circular Quay, Sydney office workers were this morning stunned at the sight of the biggest McDonald’s Playland ever constructed as they made their daily commute to work.
Taking eight weeks to build mostly by hand, the Playland set wasconstructed by Gregsets, who have also worked on the setproduction for blockbuster movies such as StarWars, Moulin Rouge andAustralia. A combination of design ideas from DDB Sydney, productionhouse Revolver, Rhinoplay and renown art director Karen Murphy; thegigantic Playland set is based on those built in McDonald’s restaurantstoday while including retro elements from the 1970s and 1980s.
The Playland has been opened up for the playing pleasure of more than300 everyday Australians on Monday 29th and Tuesday 30th March as partof the filming of a McDonald’s TV commercial. The largest single setever built in Australia for a TV commercial, the Playland is double thesize of those normally found in McDonald’s restaurants around Australiaat 10 metres high by 20 metres wide.
The massive structure is set to ignite intrigue among office workersand tourists alike as a dazzling world of slides that twist, turn anddip into a colourful ball pit; playful tunnels that wind and loopacross a 20 metre area; and the fun of an adult-size aeroplane,helicopter and giant bus bring fun back to adults in the city.
“Adult life carries many restrictions so we want to remind people thatMcDonald’s is still a place were you can have fun, be yourself and notbe judged. A place where you feel like a kid again,” said HelenFarquhar, Director of Marketing, McDonald’s (ANZ). “This adult-sizedPlayland allows us to forget about the deadlines, budgets and stressesof life and just revel in this incredible childhood arcadia. And thebest part is the McDonald’s characters we loved as kids are back oldschool style giving us the opportunity to reclaim our childhood, tolook at the world through younger eyes again and just lose ourselves -if only for a minute.”
Set to reignite many childhood memories, passers by will also see a 3metre tall Officer Big Mac checking the height of participants underhis arm, Fillet-O-Fish bouncers, a retro Grimace cage and Hamburglarswing, as well as a Ronald McDonald bench reaching 2.5 metres in height- about double the size of an average Ronald bench found in McDonald’srestaurants.
A launch date for the campaign is yet to be confirmed.
82 Comments
A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!
That’s freakin cool!
Who’s shooting it?
I’m lovin’ it. Nice one.
Their food is still shit but that is a bloody great idea.
Well done whoever did this. Very un-macca’s in a good way.
Grimace rocks!
Don’t tell me someone has actually built something big for real?
Surely this could be faked in post?
Weird.
Why?
Saw this being built on Saturday and didn’t realise it was for McDonalds.
Bloody brilliant. This is the sort of experiential stuff that I was our clients would buy.
Well done McDonalds – I’m surprised.
So whose idea was it?
I guess not DDB or they would have been all over it like a rash.
fun!
Well done Rosey, Matt & John.
Awesome effort!
DDB Sydney is the agency behind the idea…
All built for real – no post
agency = DDB Sydney
dir = Steve Rogers
It’s the simple ideas that are the best. Give me a turn on a giant slippery slide anytime!
Well done to the boys and girls at DDB. Enjoy!
Awesome.
Hope it stays there for longer than just the shoot days…
It’s DDB Sydney’s concept. And Steve Rogers is shooting it.
Rosey they should have made you CD long ago. Glad you doing stuff like this!
Onya Matty & JD too. You 3 make a great team.
Fuckers!
Just saw this at lunchtime.
Jealous M+Cer.
McBudget.
I’m wantin’ it.
Is Hamburglar there?! That would be cool. I love that sneaky little bastard.
I can see the playground right now, awesome idea!!
Some ladies are going psycho on the Fillet-O-Fish bouncers hahaa 🙂
“the largest single set ever built in Australia for a TV commercial” – bullshit.
sounds like another wacky Camry commerical
Tv ad or experiential. Can some confirm. I am stuck in the creative vortex of pyrmont and can’t get out.
I’m standing in front of it right now. It’s scary big.
Security is said I can’t go on it because it’s not daytime.
Would’ve been a better idea if you were allowed on at night.
I do want one of those burger rocker things those.
Received photos of this today from non-advertising friends on facebook.
Credit were credit is due. This is a brilliant idea and my friends had a ball.
Good job DDB, Revolver and especially McDonalds.
Still reckon Ronald is creepy enough without doubling him in size!
Oh now I get it, when I saw it this morning I thought it had been made Super-sized so that all the kiddies and their ignorant parents who are obese from living on this stuff could play on it without getting their Super-sized asses stuck on the slides.
what is it with just doing small things on a big scale nowadays
its a real trend but rather easy
I agree wholeheartedly if there’s no reason to make something big. Unless I’m wrong the idea seems to be to make adults feel small again so that’s why its big.
Pretty cool me thinks.
I can’t believe that anybody can get excited about a playground.
Do these same people think that Disneyland is the ultimate holiday destination?
Mad propz to K-Napp, Napoleon and Rosie.
That’s dynamite!
Alex
Wow, you’d think this was some incredibly profound and challenging surrealistic art installation the way everyone here is carrying on. It’s a McDonald’s ad set doubling as a branded playground, kids! Why? So it can (a.) blow hot air up the client’s arse “if only for a minute” and (b.) tick some ambient and experiential boxes to enter more categories.
As for being briefly available for public interaction, ok great – wouldn’t be my idea of adult fun. Built a bit bigger than normal, whatever. Surprisingly out of its usual suburban context, well yeah, so? An idea of genius worthy of this much praise? Hardly.
And sorry McDonalds, but to go on as though your Playland’s “old school style” characters and “retro elements from the 1970s and 1980s” have taken on some kind of mythic significance, entered cultural Valhalla, and have been sadly missed and lamented by obese adults ever since is just deluded corporate fantasy. That is to reality what reconstituted potatoes are to fries. However, I do have to admit, the fact that the Ronald McDonald bench would now reach 2.5 metres in height (“about double the size of an average Ronald bench”) did strike me as an important and long overdue innovation.
Now the DDBers have had their say…..it really isn’t that exciting…….its o.k. thats all.
McDonald’s are fucked. They fill our kids with poison. Poison I tell ya!
Then they open up a home for sick kids and ask their customers for money.
So you’re paying money to A. Buy their filth and B. To help sick kids that have gotten sick from eating their filth.
Anyway, back to designing POS for that new McMuffin!
Have a happy meal!
Is it going to change the world? No.
Is it going to bring some fun to passers-by day? Probably.
Pictures in the rain this morning:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wherearevickiandmichael/sets/72157623730390120/
Nice work DBB
McDonald’s are fucked. They fill our kids with poison. Poison I tell ya!
Then they open up a home for sick kids and ask their customers for money.
So you’re paying money to A. Buy their filth and B. To help sick kids that have gotten sick from eating their filth.
Anyway, back to designing POS for that new McMuffin!
Have a happy meal!
Why?
Why oh why?
Alex @ 7.44
Please don’t speak like that.
Ever.
looks big, is it for the extra large kids that Mc Donalds have been making?
Reminds me of Foxtels lame birthday promo from a few years back where celebs were surrounded by oversized props to make them look like kids again. Same idea. I’m sure this will smash it though with Revolver involved. Looking forward to seeing how the ad turns out before passing judgment.
The rain was sent to quash that giant Mc’Evil!
That looks like fun. Hope the commercial they make isn’t some washed out emotionless boring piece of poo, as the trend now seems to be. Lighten up. Laugh a little.
It’s big because it’s meant to help adults ‘release their inner child’. And adults are big.
Really fun idea.
Adam Rose. Now I know why you’ve been busy.
Please return my calls when you’ve done.
Bring out your inner child, wasn’t that Leo Burnett’s idea? Ah well atleast DDB get to execute someone else’s idea, better than all the rubbish that comes out of there day to day.
McFail.
Inner child was a good insight. The execution was far from fun though. Poltagyst?
This Playland thing seems to be about fun. I agree with 1:55 a fun ad would something new.
Congratulations to all involved.
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrad.
It was built on time & within budget.You can see it wasn’t a State Government project!!
Bloody hideous giant advertisement for a multinational crap food establishment.
So what else is new??
Ann,
Your comment was fantastic. Thank you. This is not a joke.
I disagree about the hideous giant advertisement Ann. I’m not a fan of McDonald’s food either but I wanted to go on that Playground. It looked brilliant in that space.
Hats off where due I say.
Brilliant – looks fantastic and how great would it be if they did this all over the world
Didn’t they do this already with the ad where the kid saw the UFO???
In China there is now so much throw-away packaging etc from fast food outlets like McDonalds (consider the number of McDonalds world-wide – 100,000-s probably) that the govt is going to hose refuse dumps with giant fragrance sprays to quell the pervasive smell..(band-aid solution if ever there was one)….do we want to encourage these companies with their disposable throw-away refuse mentality?
This is besides the cholesterol-rich burgers that require masses of rainforest to be cleared in places like Costa Rica so cattle can be reared on the land. This isn’t about FUN for lots of people in less fortunate countries. FUN can be had in much more interesting, creative and sensitive ways than this!
Hey Ann,
No one in China was harmed by building this playground. I doubt a rainforest was cleared for it either. You’re probably right however this playground wasn’t much FUN for people in less fortunate countries. It’s a shame they couldn’t have popped over, I’m sure they would’ve loved the opportunity to feel like a kid again. It’s also shame you couldn’t have found the time to unchain yourself from the tree and come down and played. Perhaps you might have understood then what it was all about. But I’m tipping you’d have no idea what FUN is.
Do Macca’s Australia ship their waste to China?
By the way, I come here for all my facts.
Have any of you guys actually been to China?
Crass. Unoriginal. Nothing would ever persuade me to put one spoonful of any McDonalds products into the mouths of my children. Shame on you Sydney for yet again succumbing to the lure of the dirty dollar.
The day we passed by the set after walking out of Customs House (on the way to Starbucks further along) we were confronted by this insanity. It was sprinkling with rain, but the swarms of over zealous office dressed adults hurtled themselves around the playground set with abandon – I remember one particularly crazed view we had of a business suited woman rocking frantically on a toy horse, the camera rolling of course. Has the Ad actually ever gone to air? Can’t find it on YouTube (and Google got me here).
I really hope they build them at all McDonalds. How exciting!
Just saw the ad. Fantastic!
please bring back playland =( =( =( i know alot of people that would love the playland back please please please
please bring back the playland please
is it still there or have they pulled it down now.
we are only seeing it on tv now, over in the west, yes put them at all maccas, or in a play park for adults only, so funny watching the suits having some down time. heeee
advert on tv fantstic……wish i could go on it myself …………….GREAT IDEA WELL DONE
i just love it would love to go on it love the commercial always watch the ppl faces and the fun there having should be one built in every state
Love the ad!! Brillant concept – pat on the back to DDB!!!
This is one of the best adds that I have seen in a while makes you feel like a kid again wish they had parks for adults how cool well done.
i love this ad. they should make it a permanent fixture outside customs house for little and big kids alike to enjoy 🙂
i saw the ad a while ago, and my partner and i decided we would go check it out one day! we love the thought of it… and are hoping it’s still there… we would love to go hang out there and act like big kids! it would be so much fun! 🙂
thinking of taking my nephew down there too… so does anyone know if it’s still there?
Don’t see hungry jacks doing this for their customers! Go maccas
Are they going to build any more? We need one in Gympie, Queensland for us big kids to enjoy.
Watching the advertisement on tele has made us realise that we need one here.
Who cares what or who the ad is for??? The great thing is the adult playground??? What a fantastic idea – I’d love one at our local McDonalds. I might actually go there for a coffee or something (not a fan of the food….). But how excellent to be able to go and be a kid for a while and forget about all the complexity of adult life…………………..I think it would be great fun, and I don’t care who brings it. Maybe some of the wowsers who are constantly looking for a political or ethical bandwagon to jump on need to have a swing???????
Wish we had one in Melbourne. I am nearly sixty seven and I would go on it in a flash. Oh how great it would be. Stuff all the pollies and the do gooders.
It would be so much fun.
i have seen a bigger one
Okay two questions
1) is it still there?
2) how do you get there?
This is such a great idea iv been wanting a park for adults because its hard to play on things when theres all these little kids on it