When we think of the brands and the way they advertise their products, the first thing that comes to mind is the logo.
Logos accompanied by colors, product images, claims and jingles that resonate in our heads forever.

That’s exactly what multinationals in every sector have accustomed us to and perhaps, thanks to this work that can only be combined with the operation of a jackhammer, is what has allowed the award-winning advertising agency Leo Burnett London to do the exact opposite and still achieve its goal.

With the help of designer David Schwen, the creative team stripped McDonald’s of everything that, from an advertising point of view, has always characterized it by creating the campaign Iconic Stacks and telling fast food products only and exclusively through its ingredients listed in words.
The work is inspired by Schwen’s project Type Sandwiches, a series of typographic posters in which the ingredients of the sandwiches are mentioned in the correct order of preparation.

The same technique was used for Leo Burnett’s campaign for McDonald’s, where all the most iconic meals in the US chain were reproduced using only stacks of words in the original font used by Schwen, the highly recognizable Helvetica.

The keyword of the entire campaign is simplicity, a choice made possible only by the recognizability of the brand and the products it has always created for its customers.

“When people have such a strong relationship with a particular product or company, sometimes the best approach is to let them remember that for themselves rather than tell them what we think.”