McDonald’s New Zealand has launched an outdoor campaign that dispenses with almost everything that traditionally identifies the brand. There is no logo. No golden arches. No images of the product. Just words.
Developed by McCann New Zealand (previously DDB Aotearoa), the campaign titled “You know where” is rolled out nationwide with executions that feature only the names of iconic menu items: cheeseburger, nuggets or apple pie, with no other elements or visual resources.
“Their products are so iconic that they do not need an explanation”
The idea is that if someone reads “cheeseburger” on a minimalist billboard with the brand’s color codes, they will know where to go. “Their products are so iconic that they need no explanation, so we let the words do the talking.”said Gary Steele, Chief Creative Officer at McCann New Zealand.
For her part, Leigh Benvie, Head of Brand&Media at McDonald’s New Zealand, explained that summer in the country is associated with road trips and long journeys between cities, with an almost guaranteed stop in Macca’s. “There are few brands that can appear at such a key moment without showing their logo or their product and trusting people to connect the dots. That is the brand power we have”he pointed out.
It’s not the first time McDonald’s has experimented with divesting its own assets. In 2025, McDonald’s UK launched “Iconic needs no explanation”, developed by Leo Burnett, within the “Breakfast, done properly” platform.
On that occasion, the brand eliminated the logo, product names and visual identity in digital and outdoor pieces to promote its breakfasts. It only showed close-ups of the Sausage & Egg McMuffin or the Hash Brown, trusting that 90% of consumers – according to Savanta data – would correctly identify the product without the need for more explicit branding.
The exercise is interesting from a brand building perspective. For decades, companies of this type have invested in visual codes to ensure consumer recognition. When that recognition reaches a certain threshold, the strategy can be reversed and begin to reduce elements to amplify their symbolic power.
