McDonald's shifts 'trust' business to Leo Burnett

by Gemma Charles, Marketing 18-Mar-08, 08:45

LONDON - McDonald's has moved its 'trust' business out of TBWA\London and into Leo Burnett ahead of a drive to improve marketing to families.

A spokeswoman for McDonald's confirmed that although TBWA remains a global roster agency, it will no longer handle any part of the fast-food chain's UK ad business. Jill McDonald, McDonald's marketing director for northern Europe, oversaw the switch.

TBWA won the business in 2006 and went on to develop and promote makeyour-ownmindup.com, a web-site intended to bring greater transparency to McDonald's operations and food-quality issues relating to the brand.

McDonald's will now work with Leo Burnett to develop a campaign to reassure mothers about the quality of its food. It is understood that the first work to be rolled out will focus on its child-oriented Happy Meals and its healthy menu options, such as fruit bags and carrot sticks.

Last year was one of McDonald's most successful in the UK for a decade, following several years of dis-appointing sales. However, it has recently been forced to launch an investigation into claims that one of its outlets used child-focused voucher campaigns that contravened restrictions on the marketing of food high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) to children (Marketing, 12 March).