The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By Audrey Kemp, LA Reporter

April 17, 2023 | 4 min read

The fast food chain’s infamous animated villain makes his first appearance in an ad since 1995.

A new campaign released by burger behemoth McDonald’s today encourages consumers to try its new-and-improved Big Mac hamburger – that is, if the Hamburglar doesn’t snatch them all up first.

First introduced in 1971, the Hamburglar is a well-known character from McDonald’s commercials. Over the decades, he has attempted (and failed) to hoard all the McDonald’s hamburgers for himself.

Today, the Hamburglar returns to covet what McDonald’s calls its “best burgers ever” in two different spots: ‘Casting the joint’ and ‘Heist.’ In the former, the Hamburglar spies on the sandwiches with binoculars and plots his crime. In the latter, he takes off with his bounty.

The last time the mischievous mascot appeared in a McDonald's commercial in his traditional animated form was in 1995, although he has briefly popped up in different forms. (For instance, in a 2015 commercial for the Sirloin Burger and, most recently, on the Cactus Plant Flea Market box.)

According to a press release, McDonald’s has made four “small but tasty improvements” to its Big Mac sandwich; they include a softer “pillowy“ bun, “perfectly melted cheese,“ burger patties grilled with “caramelized“ white onion and more of “everyone’s favorite Big Mac sauce.“

“Our classic burgers are what made McDonald’s famous. They’ve become a cultural icon over the years,” McDonald’s US chief marketing officer and customer experience officer Tariq Hassan said in a statement.

“We saw the opportunity to make a few changes in our kitchens to make them even more delicious and get back to what people loved most about them in the first place - making them hotter, juicier and tastier. To get the word out, we’re bringing back a McDonald’s favorite – the Hamburglar – because what better way to show just how good they are than to turn the most notorious burger thief loose in our marketing campaign, as he tries to get his hands on our best burgers ever.”

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The revamped burgers have already arrived in Canada, Belgium and Australia. The burgers will hit cities on the west coast of the US later this week and will subsequently become available in all other cities across the country by 2024.

The new campaign, led by creative agency Wieden+Kennedy, will run across TV, digital, social and out-of-home in local markets as the burgers hit each market.

Interested in creative campaigns? Check out our Ad of the Day section and sign up for our Ads of the Week newsletter so you don’t miss a story.

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