A Week in Creative: McDonald’s BTS burger and Expedia’s big rebrand

Last week, The Drum introduced its new Creative Works round-up, where each week we will celebrate the 10 best ads from our Creative Works section, asking our readers to vote for their favorite ad.

Without further ado, the pick of this week is ‘Converse City Forests’ by Amplify. The project saw Converse collaborate with Gumbaynggirr activist artist Aretha Brown, who painted a mural in Melbourne that both cleaned the air while sparking conversation around Indigenous urban identity and the importance of elders within the community.

In the face of a global pandemic, it’s fair to say Expedia Group hasn’t had an easy 12 months, with the travel industry dealing with the worst crisis in decades.

As it creeps out of the pandemic, Expedia is on a mission to be “the best travel tech platform in the world”, prioritizing ad spend to do so. As part of its biggest campaign in years, the rebrand includes a new website, new product features and an ad campaign starring Rashida Jones.

Pivoting from an online booking and travel site to being an “ultimate travel companion” the ‘All By Myself’ campaign sees Jones act as a human assistant to a lone traveller, personifying Expedia’s service.

Marking its first global campaign in three years, ‘Buy Better, Wear Longer’ sees Levi’s deliver a call-to-action for gen Zers, urging them to reuse, repurpose and reduce their consumer footprint.

Levi’s hopes that by targeting gen Z with a relevant sustainability message, the brand can reverse Covid-related sales declines while also promoting longer wear times that reduce consumer footprints. Earlier this month, Levi Strauss & Co reported double-digit sales declines due to the challenging retail environment.

While Burger King’s advertising is intent on bringing its competition down, McDonald’s likes to dip its brand into celebrity culture. This week it announced ‘The BTS Meal’ – a new signature order it is creating in collaboration with the world‘s biggest K-pop band.

This is an evolution of its ‘Famous Orders‘ program, which is inspired by the ‘simple truth that no matter how famous you are, everyone has a McDonald’s order‘. Previous partnerships have seen McDonald‘s team up with Travis Scott and J Balvin, which both led to significant sales bumps, with Scott‘s deal resulting in a ‘Quarter Pounder‘ shortage.

After an eerily quiet year in the hospitality sector, Premier Inn is coming back big. ‘Rest Easy’ is its first fully-integrated campaign since appointing Leo Burnett as its ad partner in 2020 and the biggest in three years.

The campaign sees the return of Premier Inn frontman Sir Lenny Henry following a long hiatus, as part of a wide-ranging mission to reconnect the UK’s biggest hotel company with the great British public – comprising leisure and business travelers alike.

With the knowledge that ten million pets are reported lost or stolen in the US every year, Iams had created NoseID, which uses nose-scanning smartphone technology to identify lost dogs by their nose print (like human fingerprints, each dog nose is unique).

Created by Adam&Eve DDB, Iams has also partnered with local animal shelters in Nashville and its surrounding area to educate dog owners on the app and its benefits, as well as other preventative measures such as microchipping.

For more creative news, please visit The Drum's new creativity hub on the website or drop in at The Drum’s Creative Works – the home of creative from all around the globe. You can also subscribe to The Drum’s creative newsletter or browse our round-up here.​