McDonald’s was a dream client for an aspiring copywriter like me in 2010. 

Everything about  McDonald’s is legendary. Feelings and emotions spontaneously arise at the sight of those red and yellow brand colors, or at the whisper of the letters, “McD’s.”

I got my first McDonald’s brief and felt like a golden-ticket winner. But I also knew I needed to deliver the goods.

What’s the product? I asked.

Doesn’t matter.

Doesn’t matter?!? Did I hear that right? Did I receive an open brief for McDonald’s?

Yes, I did. I did receive a Golden Arches open brief.

The truth was: I worked for two highly seasoned Creative Directors who’d already earned the client’s trust and praise over years.

And the brief? Out-of-home concepts for McDonald’s college sports sponsorships.

My art director partner and I concepted for a few days. We hit it hard. However, instead of rushing off to our computers to find stock photos or begin design, we sketched our ideas by hand.

Many clients don’t know this, but modern advertising schools still require students to learn the original methods for creating ad campaigns. This includes creating sketches called Marker Comps to illustrate ideas. 

Marker Comp (n) - a sketch hand-drawn with a Sharpie that has a simple border around the edge for a frame

These marker comps are basic. In fact, one of a student’s first assignments is to draw one hundred versions of an ad for one product in one week. This exercise teaches us to be fast and not spend too much time on one idea in the early stages of concepting.

Through the process of sketching—the idea develops.

The marker comps give creative directors the opportunity to provide direction in the process before too much time is spent on design. Collages work too. Or any simplified way to show an idea.

Attention to detail is absolutely critical—that cannot be overlooked. 

In fact, our final designs for this project were retouched by a design house. This extra step helped to add very necessary details like the dimples in the football and basketball designs that helped them pop in real life. 

This concepting style is called a visual solution, and they can often work well for brand advertising. Many people share visual solution ads online because they can make us smile or feel smart.

Visual Solution (n) - Advertising that mainly uses visual elements to communicate a message

My Art Director and I attended the NCAA tournament game at Valparaiso University to launch this out-of-home. That’s how we possess such great photos of the work. 

The experience was a pinch-me-to-make-sure-I’m-not-dreaming moment. Advertising occasionally does that.

The fans went crazy for their team and showed a ton of passion waving our McDonald’s D-Fence fry boards when their team defended the basket. 

I loved feeling all of the passion coalescing together—our creative team, our client, the Valparaiso basketball team and fans.

My final thought from this project: Clients, challenge your teams with open briefs at least once a year.

It doesn’t have to be all of the time. But give your teams a chance for a moonshot project. I guarantee you’ll receive a presentation created with that one magic ingredient—love. And that might be something that you really love.

Bd-da-ba-ba-bah…I’m lovin’ it. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself)

If you want to check out my thoughts on visual solutions and see how other great brands have used them, read more there: The One Advertising Idea That’s (Almost) Always Clever