The “100% Real 2014” campaign for McDonald's, designed by TBWA\ANG, an advertising agency based in Gzira, Malta, has recently 'gone viral' online, with its sheer ingenuity and creativity picking up kudos from many of the world's major blogs and online newspapers. The idea behind the campaign, which launched back in April, was to highlight the quality of the food products produced by McDonald's via a traditional Maltese vegetable truck, which travelled around all of the island's major open air markets, displaying the high-quality produce used by McDonald's in their menu items.
The idea behind the campaign was to highlight the quality of the food products produced by McDonald's via a traditional Maltese vegetable truck
The truck was dressed in McDonald's green and yellow and emblazoned with the 'golden arches' logo, and successfully revealed to the people of Malta the sheer quality of the potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and more used in their menu items. Representatives from the fast-food restaurant chain were on hand to not only distribute educational leaflets, but answer the public's questions regarding the quality of the produce used in all McDonald's food.
One of the traditional Maltese vegetable trucks used in the campaign
The French magazine, 'Creapills', which specialises in publishing outstanding advertising campaigns from around the world, was the first outlet to discover and promote the campaign, but the rest of the world soon cottoned on, with the story featured on blogs in Italy, France and across the U.S. The biggest coup for the campaign, however, was undoubtedly the 'Huffington Post' story. The Huffington Post is an online newspaper based in North America, which has a readership of over 25 million people worldwide. The story marvelled at the sheer size and ambition of the campaign, given the fact that McDonald's Maltese operation only “Operates 10 stores for a population that comes up to less than half a million on an island only 122 square miles small.” It claimed that far from being a burden, it was the in fact the small size of the country that made Malta the ideal place for TBWA\ANG “To mount one of the most creative initiatives in the chain’s product-quality campaign.”
The French magazine, 'Creapills', which specialises in publishing outstanding advertising campaigns from around the world was the first outlet to discover and promote the campaign
Ivan Filetti, TBWA\ANG's CEO, said the agency are “Chuffed to see (the agency's) effort recognised internationally,” and feels the reach of the campaign has been “Quite an achievement.” Laura Jasenaite, group marketing director at Premier Capital, the company that operates all McDonald's restaurants in Malta, Greece and the Baltic's, has also been overwhelmed by the response from the campaign. She said that the success of the campaign vindicates the hard work they put into ensuring the quality of their food, and that they are “Very satisfied with the feedback received both internationally and locally from customers who saw the campaign.”
Official Maltese McDonald's Website
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from the UK who hasn't eaten at McDonald's for almost a year now. He misses it terribly.
