YUNGBLUD x MCDONALD’S

SPEC CAMPAIGN: MARKETING & BRAND PARTNERSHIP

In October of 2023, UK musician Yungblud managed to convince thousands of fans that he had made an inverted version of a McDonald’s classic: the Unhappy Meal. McDonald’s was approached for comment, but never responded.

What if things had gone differently, though? What if this was an official collaboration that didn’t just tap into Yungblud’s dark aesthetic, but built out a campaign centering a topic that both Yungblud and McDonald’s have spoken up about as recently as earlier in 2024 — mental health?

I pitched a strategy for this hypothetical campaign to Art Director and Designer Vanessa Street-Mason, and we got to work figuring it out.

I wrote all the copy, and Vanessa produced all the visuals.

BRIEF

Our goal? Capitalize and expand upon the success of the McDonald’s The Meal campaign by creating a new Unhappy Meal campaign featuring Yungblud and targeting pre-teens and teens in the UK.

The Meal campaign focused on teaching children how to express their emotions and that it’s okay to do so — we took it one step further with the “Unhappy Meal” by normalizing difficult teen emotions, and providing them with outlets to share what they’re going through.

The Unhappy Meal follows the general aesthetics for Yungblud’s imagined version of the meal, but the campaign angle centers on mental health.

We proposed a limited edition launch during Mental Health Awareness month in the UK (May), and to have McDonald’s donate a portion of each Unhappy Meal sale to the charity London Friend, taking cues from Yungblud’s prior charity work.

CAMPAIGN ASSETS

In addition to the hero ads and landing page pictured above, we also produced a newsletter and a carousel post for Instagram.