2026 Winner

Global menu items don’t arrive with built-in demand, they need a reason to be tried. So, when they arrived in Canada, McDonald’s needed to turn curiosity into orders among a younger audience. “The International Menu Heist” positioned the items as signature favourites stolen from McDonald’s around the world. With the help of 11 miniatures artists, six scenic painters and over one thousand hours across seven 3D printers, each location was crafted with globally specific textures, materials and colour palettes, creating distinct environments tied to the origin of each menu item while remaining recognizably McDonald’s. Across every scene, the food appeared as something in motion: exclusive, fleeting and not meant to last. The campaign drove a 14% lift across participating categories, 2.06M organic impressions and more than 218K new app members, while inspiring similar executions in other markets.

Credits

Creative Agency: Cossette
Advertising Brand: McDonald’s Canada

Production Agency:
Circle Production
Nimiopere
No8 London
Sound:
Original Music (Beacon Street Studios)
Mix and Record: Berkeley Sound, La Majeure (Montréal)

Media Agency - OMD
PR Agency - Weber Shandwick
Packaging Agency: HAVI
Retail agency partners: IMS and Coates
Promotional Agency: TMS

McDonald’s
VP, CMO: Francesca Cardarelli
Director, Brand Strategy & Content: Rebecca Smart
Senior Manager, Marketing: Aryana Heit
National Marketing Supervisor: Moira Heaney
Marketing Manager - French National Campaigns: Andréanne Gilbert
Social Lead & Brand Manager: Nezariel Scott
Claire-Randall Consulting: Brenda Surminski

Cossette
Chief Creative Officer: Driscoll Reid
Chief Strategy Officer: Subtej Nijjar
Executive Creative Director: Andrew Chisholm
Executive Creative Director: Jason Hill
Executive Creative Director, Design: Jenna Anderson
Creative Director: Darya Klymenko
Creative Director: Stefan D’Aversa
Senior Copywriter: Zeina Samaha
Senior Designer: Alex Soltau
Executive Producer: Lindsay Hann
Executive Producer: Alix Ablaza
Print Producer: Mark Prole
Design Director: April Tran
Design Director: Robyn Hansen
Senior Designer: Luisa Bojaca
Content Creator: Melo Griffith

Group VP, Head of Strategy: Dan Cameron
Senior Strategy Director: Nicole Stanhope
Senior Strategy Director, Digital: Owen Garscadden
Senior Digital Strategist: Nico Vasarevic
Group Business Director: Terence Li
Business Director: Laryssa Li
Business Director: Mike Harris
Account Supervisor: Santana Symeonides
Account Supervisor: Jess Zujko
Account Supervisor: Tessa Giret
Account Supervisor: Magellan Jull

Circle Production
Director: Chris Balmond
Production Designer: Jesson Moen
Partner/Executive Producer: Karen Tameanko
Executive Producer: Laurence Payne
Line Producer: Andrew Graham
Director of Photography: Bryan Newman
Assistant Director: Marc Guspie
Production Manager: Alan Kuipers
Casting: Jigsaw Casting
Lead Food Stylist: Noah Witenoff
Assistant Food Stylist: Carol Brown
Wardrobe Stylist: Kate Day
Location Manager: Matt Cassils

Nimiopere
Editor: Steve Puhach
Assistant Editor: Bianca Bissada
Exec Producer: Jenna Edwards
Producer: Nicole Hann

No8 London
Exec Producer: Jordan Andreopoulos
Producer: April-Rae Hughes
Colourist: Jonny Tully
Colour Assist: Benita Kiliute
Colour Assist: Jamie Morgan
VFX Supervisor/Lead: Mark Robinson
2D Creative Director: Jim Allen
Flame Artist: Gavin Marler
Flame Artist: Rob Peacock
Flame Artist: Tobias Jones
Flame Artist: Shuen Zhou
MGFX Artist: Jay Fiaes
3D Creative Director: Kate Gabriel
CG Lead: Nicholas Smith
Flame Assist: Tahmid Mahmood
Flame Assist: Ben Barbrooke

Original Music (Beacon Street Studios)
Principal, Composer: Andrew Feltenstein
Principal, Composer: Danny Dunlap
Principal, Composer: John Nau
EP, Head of Production: Leslie DiLullo
Producer: Julia Giambona

Berkeley Sound
Creative Director: