Apr 17, 2016 | By Tess
While many people are split over whether they’d ever order a McDonald's BigMac trio and while it is quite obvious that the fast food giant’s meals are perhaps not the most nutritionally sound, there is no denying that the company’s ad campaigns are catchy, fun, and even ingenious. From the catchy “I’m lovin’ it” slogan made even more famous by celebrity spokesperson Justin Timberlake, to the retro BigMac jingle featuring all its main ingredients, McDonald's has made their mark on advertising history in quite a significant way.
Recently, McDonald's UK may have added another memorable ad to the list with their charming series of “Always working” ads, which have been targeted towards children and parents to inform them about how they are always working on improving their “Happy Meals”. The series of short tv ads, all made with stop-motion animation and made with the help of 3D printing, explain the positive changes made to the ever popular “Happy Meal” through narration and idyllic miniature farming scenery.
As the narrator recounts that McDonald's has reduced the amount of sodium in the Happy Meal by 47%, a small toy man in a construction helmet slides down a pipe onto a truck bed of salt, as he explains that they’ve added story books to the children’s meals to encourage literacy, a miniature crane lowers a book prop into the Happy Meal box, itself several times larger than the tiny figurines putting it together. While we may not all rush out to buy a new and improved happy meal, there is no denying that the commercial is adorable, and the artistry behind it is impressive.
The agency responsible for the innovative ad was the accomplished firm Leo Burnett London, which has made a number of iconic and original advertising campaigns for companies and organizations around the UK including for cereal giant Kellogg’s, Amnesty International, and a number of others.
McDonald's, unlike with most of their food, released a “making of” video to show the work that went into the recent ad spot and it is impressive, to say the very least. From meticulously creating the sets out of a number of organic and made materials, to 3D modeling the scenes and each individual figurine, to 3D printing the bodies and heads of said figurines, hand painting them, and then organizing each frame of the stop-motion, the work that went into the charming commercial is astounding.
The ad, which was directed by Yves Geleyn, was brought to life by a team of fifty talented individuals and took a total of 12 weeks to complete. On the decision to use stop-motion animation, the director said, “A lot of miniature work is now done with CGI. Stop motion possesses an authenticity, a human touch, that adds so much to a story. It allows you to create something whimsical that is grounded in something authentic.”
Geleyn adds, “It’s about making something better. McDonald’s wanted to communicate how they’re always working to make a Happy Meal better, which can be told quite functionally, but we wanted to tell the story with some charm.”
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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