Inside DDB Sydney’s Custom Agency Model for McDonald’s
At a time when many agencies are rethinking their models, DDB Sydney’s dedicated McDonald’s team is planning to welcome back McDonald’s Australia and all of the client’s agency partners to its office on a weekly basis, beginning in January.
Several years ago, DDB Sydney launched what it calls a creative review meeting. Before the pandemic, these meetings took place every Wednesday and Thursday, at two different locations. Every Wednesday, the McDonalds team co-located at the DDB Sydney office. Every Thursday, McDonalds co-located with DDB’s sister agency, OMD.
DDB Sydney’s account model for McDonald’s is unusual, even as the industry is altering traditional account structures and creating bespoke agency teams for their clients. The McDonald’s account is a hybrid version of the standard co-location model, where an agency team typically sits full-time at the client’s office. DDB Sydney and McDonald’s sit at agency offices and co-locate for only some of the week alongside agencies from other holding companies. The model stands out even within DDB Sydney as one of two accounts structured in this way.
DDB Sydney is behind well-known McDonald’s creative campaigns in Australia. The group created the Mother’s Day spot “Cravings,” and the integrated campaign “50 Years of Maccas.” Recently, McDonalds Australia consolidated more of its business with DDB Sydney. Last year it awarded the agency its social media business, which WPP’s VMLY&R Sydney used to manage