20th June 2025

We are delighted that McDonald’s advertising campaign “The Meal” won three bronze awards at Cannes Lions yesterday for “PR – Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility”, “Small Scale Media” and “Brand Experience – Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility”.

Partner Huw Morris and Senior Associate Fiona Hartwell provided strategic legal advice on this campaign, where “Happy” and the smile icon were removed from “The Happy Meal” during Mental Health Awareness week in May 2024 to spark conversations around children’s mental health, as well as contracting Rio Ferdinand to front the campaign, as part of our work with McDonald’s on their ongoing partnership with Children In Need.

We also advised on the McDonald’s teaser-style “McRib Returns?” campaign which won a bronze Cannes Lions award for a single market campaign, involving a push notification sent to McDonald’s 1.82 million app users.

Congratulations also to our client VCCP on winning seven Cannes Lions awards for their “Daisy vs Scammers” campaign and Cadbury work.

Find out more about our expertise in advertising & marketing here.