DDB promotes McDonald’s free Wi-Fi
November 4 2009, 6:00 pm | | 40 Comments
McDonald’s has been rolling out free Wi-Fi to all their restaurants.What better way for DDB Sydney to let people know that than to useMcDonald’s iconic fries.
40 Comments
Yes the visual collision is live and well. Anyone hear the pub call? Job Done.
Nice one.
Bloody jealous.
Gits.
Nice one again.
It’s very clever, but why chips?
Why not pickles or straws?
McBrilliant.
Apparently, McDonalds don’t actually HAVE chips for sale at all….just fiery fries.
Nice, but doesn’t communicate the fact that wi-fi is free…..just that they have it
um 9.22 its says free wi-fi at the bottom.
9:22 am:
Did you not see the bottom right-hand corner?
Hate to be the killjoy, but McDonalds have had wifi in most of their key stores since 2005.
“We need to tell people that Macca’s has free wifi”
“How about we make a big poster, and put the free wifi bit in tiny little words hidden down the bottom right corner”
“Why wouldn’t we put the free wifi bit in the middle of the poster, where everyone can see it?”
“Because if we do that it wouldn’t be any good. It’s better to make a visual joke which hopefully intrigues people enough so they take the time to look down at the bottom right corner”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just, I dunno, tell them?”
“Yeah but people don’t want easier. They want to work for their information… they like to be led on a journey of discovery”
“By a good author or film-maker, sure. But by a McDonalds ad which is telling them that they can get free wifi?”
“Shut the fuck up dude. Just shut the fuck up”.
Is it just me, or does anyone else occasionally question the sanity of our profession?
Lovely ad.
nice work Matt and John.
Hey 11.05 you clown. You have to grab their attention first. Otherwise it doesn’t matter what you tell them. Are you in media or just a really bad creative?
Anyone who doesn’t like this ad should get a new job.
I really am amazed that people can criticize something so simple. It might not be world beating or have had millions in production but c’mon guys it is a simple solution and fits well.
It is also for Maccas.
I say well done.
Jay F
11:05 you make a reasonable point.
I’m a creative and I suffer from two things: chronic boredom and appalling eyesight.
I love being entertained, even if only for that brief moment of “I get it, aren’t I clever for working it out?” so I really like what they’ve done with an interesting image. Is it wifi? Is it volume? Why is it chips? That’s what draws me in.
But despite having glasses fashioned from the Hubble telescope, I’m always missing punchlines, brand names, websites etc. Yes, I’m aware of what I’m becoming. I even have that ‘Make The Logo Bigger’ song in the hopes I stay on the right side of the cliche, but personally I reckon you could make the line a bit bigger in this one.
Then again, you need to think who this is of greater interest to. Me driving in my car on the way to the office in the morning, attempting to read the AdShells as I whiz past? Or the person waiting for a bus, train or tram with their laptop in tow with five minutes to kill.
I really like the American style of advertising. Don’t hide the logo or the product, get it big, right up there and in your face.
One of the most awarded campaigns in the world starts with ‘Bud Light presents…’
Then there’s ‘Whopper Freakout’, ‘You know when you’ve been Tango’d’
When it comes to this, I have to disagree with the commenters above.
The whole ad is in McDonalds corporate colours. Tick.
It uses McDonalds product. Tick.
The logo is sufficient size for a full page press ad, and you probably wouldn’t want
to make it any bigger because it would look silly at full size. Tick.
In fact the only thing missing from this ad is McDonalds core value of ‘showing people sharing moments while enjoying the food’, which I think is a load of rubbish anyway. Tick.
Well done M.E, don’t listen to the white-anting.
Things must be pretty slow over at DDB?!?
Nice work anyway.
Hey 12.44, I expected a response like yours.
I know how advertising works, thanks very much. But unlike some, I’m actually capable of thinking for myself from time to time, rather than meekly accepting what the herd say is a good ad, merely because it follows the creative playbook.
I’m pretty good at what I do, which is make ads. And we both know that this macca’s ad is not a bad effort: it’s your basic visual idea in the classic style: big picture of a symbol constructed from stuff that the brand sells, with the logo and actual message in bottom right corner.
Seen it ten thousand times before. As have you, I’d imagine.
But if you step outside of the little world we live in, and THINK about what we do for a living…
We’re charged with telling people that McDonalds has free wifi. Now, the quickest way to do this… the way that’s GUARANTEED to get 100% of people understanding this message in less than a second…
Is to have a massive headline which reads FREE WIFI IN EVERY RESTAURANT and a McDonalds logo.
No need to ‘grab their attention’ because we don’t need to intrigue them enough to get them to commit to reading the bottom right hand corner. They’ve got everything.
But, of course, this would be a shit ad, wouldn’t it? Course it would be. But it makes you think, doesn’t it?
If I stuck the good ad on an Adshel, or up in the store, and did the same with the shit ad…. I’m pretty certain the shit ad would communicate more effectively. It’s clearer, simpler, and more to the point. But, like the rest of you, even if that were the case, I’d resist with all my might any push from the client to do the shit ad.
Why? Because I believe in the power of clever advertising, over the alternative. But if you’re at all smart, you’ve gotta continually question everything. Just because the industry says this is a good way to go, doesn’t mean that you should just blindly follow. That way, nothing ever changes, and you don’t ever do anything original, do you?
Besides, I reckon the laziest form of advertising is the old visual puzzle. Maybe fine when you’re making ads in a country where 7 languages are spoken, and half the people are illiterate. But fuck me, since when did people unlearn how to read, and need messages expressed to them via picture riddles?
It’s not really a natural way to communicate anything… unless you’re trying to teach monkeys with flash cards. Think about that: this style of advertising uses the same techniques as researchers use when teaching monkeys how to push the right buttons in a lab experiment. How, exactly, is that rewarding the intelligence of the audience?
But because 15 years ago a few award juries gave out a bunch of metal to a bunch of visual ads from Singapore, we all blindly figure that this is a great way to go.
Well, I for one think it’s worth questioning this reasoning. Fucking well and truly over this kind of ad.
Just saying “FREE WIFI” might seem the logical solution to someone who doesn’t understand brand. A big shouty headline might make sense for Harvey Norman big because their message is “CHEAP!” but it wouldn’t make sense for McDonalds any more than Coke trying to sell you shoes.
Clever, friendly, simple – all this makes sense for the McDonalds brand. Even if you are visually impared you could tell this is a McDonalds message.
This is why good ads are hard to make. Not because it’s hard to think of crazy ideas, but because it’s hard to think of crazy ideas that are relevant to the brand.
Good corporate story well told.
Isnt this an old ad? I thought this was done ages ago??
Now that’s an ad!!! Awesome work…
Er…
Cheap as Chips?
I wonder how much 4 chips are then? probably free cause they’re on a red floor 😉
We attend because we are momentarily baffled and thus we are ready to search for the answer, which we will remember all the more for having discovered it in such a flash of recognition. (E.H. Gombrich, a bloody long time ago)
Funny thing is, that’s how ads still work.
Nice one.
11:05 i Agree completely but it won’t win awards by being obvious and quick even tho it’s for fast food. If the message is small and down in the corner, shiny validation must not be far away.
And without awards you’re nobody, NOBODY!
I enjoyed this ad and comments also. It seems to me that the ad might aim at people who don’t eat at Mac frequently. “I don’t eat here so often, but it may be good if I can use free-wifi. Maybe I could do some research here”
I kind of envy this conversational circumstance since I don’t have things like this in Japan.
Yo 3.39, lighten up brother, it’s just an ad.
Bloody well put 3:39. What you say makes total sense. I enjoyed your comments immensely and I like how you challenge “traditional advertising thinking.” As someone once said, the word “free” is one of the most emotive words in the English language. Please comment again.
Wi-Fry?
Brilliant! You guys made it portrait. Much better than the landscape version from ages ago..
http://www.rtrevino.com/portafolio/grandes/1402.jpg
Mwaaaaahhhh!
Well done Detective Pablo.
Well said, 3.39. I too would love to hear more of your pithy insights on the state of advertising.
Visual gymnastics is well and truly DEAD.
A headline reading ‘Free Wirefire’ has more credibility.
You’re the clown 12:44.
If you want to grab attention the word FREE does that 10 times more effectively than a visual puzzle [for answer look for 1 pt type at bottom of ad hidden under logo].
Trust me a headline that read Free Wi-Fi would work a lot better because its actually promising the consumer something they want at the price they want.
The brief was Free Wi-Fi available at Maccas, not Wi-Fi available at Maccas.
People don’t understand the difference just make it easier for people who do to earn a living.
Ok, looks like the retail guys are bashing the mainstream guys…
Break it up people.
Would love to know what ‘Free Wirefire’ is. You mean Firewire?
Compute much?
shame it’s been done before…nice ad
Thanks Pablo. Primo detective work. Dont think we’ll be seeing it at any award show now.
On the www there is no hiding.
Not with sleuths like Pablo around.
Genius.
Keep the bastards honest my friends.
Interesting. I always wondered what they would produce for this brief. Back in 2009, my design partner and I worked on this brief. She toured the Sydney DDB as a student. They liked her work and let us submit ideas. We actually came up with the fry/wireless signal idea as well. I don’t know if we ever submitted it. I dismissed it because it was “low-hanging fruit.” And, as someone already posted on here, it’s been done to salty death. Oh well. Good to see their final result. Just wish it wasn’t something so expected.