McDonald

Leo Burnett has hatched an eggstremely clever campaign in Chicago adjacent to the McDonald’s restaurant at Clark and Addison in the shadow of Wrigley Field. The egg cracks open to promote McDonald’s fresh eggs for breakfast. A timer starts the cracking process at 6 a.m. and closes the display by 10:30 a.m. The egg-stravaganza will also perform for ova-enthusiastic Cubs fans for each home game through at least mid-August.

The egg-ecution follows other clever McDonald’s campaigns, such as the fresh salads display with real lettuce sprouting from it, a giant coffee cup with 1,600 gallons of coffee-colored water being poured from a spigot and an inverted milkshake, where the pole became the straw. Leo Burnett teamed with McDonald’s to create “Egg” to promote the restaurant’s food quality. The billboard campaign began in mid-June with the first “Coffee” billboard.

Let’s not be quichey about this – McDonald’s OOH campaign have cracked open a flood of eggscruciating puns. But, before shelling you with more yokes and ruffling more feathers, Mike Stapleton of Detroit-based Prop Art Studio provided fabrication and design insights.

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The company, which was founded in 1988 and produces spectaculars, stage sets, tradeshow displays and “anything that can be drawn,” according to Stapleton, was contacted by MMT (NYC), which has expanded from vinyl billboards to spectaculars and custom-sculpted pieces. Prop Art had worked with Metromedia previously for an Escalade display for Super Bowl XL in Detroit. Prop Art also fabricated the coffee cup and spigot for the Coffee billboard.

The original design called for the eggshell to fall to the ground, but the parking lot beneath it is used for Cubs games. Instead, Stapleton said Prop Art stored the existing billboard at its facility, then crafted an aluminum armature that’s tied to steel lifting arms operated by two winches. The ribbed structure was covered in metal screen and expandable foam, then handsculpted. The eggshell was sanded, coated in urethane and painted with an eggshell finish.

Stapleton, who is an industrial designer, said the primary engineering problem was to make the sections meet without cracking the structure. Also, a wind sensor notifies controls when Chicago’s high winds pose potential problems and consequently won’t allow the shell to open. Stapleton said Indicon (Sterling Heights, MI) designed the controls.

The egg interior combines sculpted foam, hand painting and vinyl graphics to create a glossy yellow yolk with a dimensional headline.

The 3,800-lb. egg stands 13 ft. 6 in. from the ground when fully opened and 19 ft. 4 in. when fully closed. The board measures 21 ft. long, with a 14-ft. diameter and an overall circumference of 44 ft. (large enough to hold more than a million real eggs, according to the agency).

The entire design and construction process took eight and a half weeks; Prop Art was given three weeks for the fabrication, and the installation took six days. The egg was tested, kit-packed and shipped to Chicago for assembly.

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Leo Burnett’s Brian Shembeda explained McDonald's asked the agency for an untraditional approach that would highlight freshness and attract buzz. “McDonalds are happy, fun places, and outdoor spectaculars, like this one, can convey that fun.”

Shembeda brought his family to see the egg in operation. “My six-year-old went crazy. She saw it when it closed at 10:30 a.m., but she wanted to see it open, too.” He explained that the timer made it impossible to do that.

Campaign success ultimately hinges on sales, but, as Shembeda said, “PR is part of it, too. Bloggers have gone wild about it, and comments from consumers have been extremely positive.”