MCDONALD'S
WORLD MENU HEIST
The internet has been jealous of McDonald's menus abroad for years.
We finally did something about it.
THE CHALLENGE
International menu envy is a real thing. Social feeds are full of McDonald's fans expressing serious envy for menu items in other countries, from Japan to Switzerland and beyond. McDonald's wanted to do what any fan-first brand would do: pull off a Global World Menu Heist, stealing the most wanted items from around the world and dropping them across Europe for fans to find. The challenge for us, brought in by Leo UK, was to bring that big creative idea to life in a way that turned fans into active participants in the heist.
THE APPROACH
The premise was simple but ambitious. Over six months, gold shipping crates containing the world's most-wanted McDonald's menu items would move across Europe, dropping off must-try items. The wider campaign masterplan spanned a TV ad, craveable OOH, social hype, creator partnerships, events and immersive restaurant experiences.
To take the heist beyond traditional advertising and into the spaces where fans were already spending their time, the crates were also hidden in the viral geography game GeoGuessr, turning the platform into a live treasure hunt. When the map link dropped, "leaked" by the mysterious GeoBurglar, players across the world joined the heist, guessing where the goods would show up next.
We led the GeoGuessr activation from concept through to delivery, making sure fans weren't just watching the heist unfold, they were in on it. The GeoGuessr campaign was featured on European OOH sites with a QR code and a link to the game and we worked with GeoGuessr influencers to spread the word.
THE IMPACT
World Menu Heist proved that the best brand campaigns invite fans into the story rather than push it at them. By embedding the heist into a platform fans were already obsessed with, we turned a global advertising moment into a participatory game that travelled organically across countries and communities. The activation extended the reach and longevity of the campaign well beyond paid channels, while giving McDonald's fans something far better than another ad: a chance to join the crew.
3
local influencers
100K
social views
3.7%
average engagement rate