“That’s been such a big part of our festive offering, and a platform that has truly stood the test of time,” Andrew Long, creative partner at Leo Burnett UK, told Adweek.

A new Christmas trilogy

The latest installment from the brand marks the third iteration of its “Raise Your Arches” proposition, unveiled by Michelle Graham-Clare, the brand’s U.K. CMO earlier this year. The brand platform celebrates the knowing look and unspoken communication used by hungry customers to signify the all-consuming craving for a McDonald’s.

According to the effectiveness testing platform System1, 98% of people identified the initial 60-second spot as a McDonald’s ad before the end, defying the industry average score within the category and indicating the ad’s “exceptional” strength in brand recognition.

The campaign has expanded into 35 additional markets, with James Millers, creative partner at Leo Burnett U.K., telling Adweek the creative team never planned for a trilogy.

“In the film, we wanted to tell an unashamedly feel-good story, showing how different groups of people use the invite to McDonald’s as a little moment of release from those festive moments we need it most,” he finished.

Increasingly, McDonald’s global and local marketing strategy is pinned around insights rooted in what it calls “fan truths:” the moments, memories and real-life experiences that make McDonald’s relevant to individuals. 

In the U.S., this has shown up through work like “Famous Orders” by Wieden+Kennedy, which pushes the universal truth that everyone has a go-to McDonald’s order, even customers as iconic as Magic Johnson and Kim Kardashian.

“We’ve shifted our logic of being a brand that speaks brand-to-fan to one that speaks fan-to-fan,” Hassan told Adweek in April 2023.