Brief Explanation

The Playland needed to be constructed on location in Sydney's CBD. Every piece was scaled 2:1, meaning that every piece had to be made by hand, as the parts simply didn't exist. We wanted to recreate popular retro pieces from our past, with nothing to go on except photographs found online. We could not drill or anchor the Playland to the ground. Towers needed to support each other, and the entire structure needed to rest on a floating platform. Because the public would be playing on it, everything had to be designed in collaboration with a structural engineer.

The Brief

McDonald's wanted to communicate to adults who rarely paid them a visit. For them, McDonald's held few emotional ties, and only offered convenience. These people had grown apart from Macca's. We needed to re-engage them. The insight was that most adults, regardless of whether they still go to McDonald's, have fond memories of it from their youth. So, we decided to build an adult-sized Playland to make them feel like kids again.

How the final design was conceived

Once constructed, the Playland had a height of 32 feet, a weight of more than 15 tonnes, and a footprint of over 4,500 square feet. It incorporated modern design with a retro twist. Contemporary tubes and bubbles complemented old school pieces such as a Ronald bench, Grimace cage, Fillet-O-Fish bouncers, Officer Big Mac sign, ball pit and Hamburglar swing. Positioning these retro pieces around the perimeter made the Playland look accessible, and invited people to play. Putting a fence up was out of the question.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Grown-ups came before work, after work and during their lunch breaks to slide, swing or just take it all in. The Playland let adults engage with McDonald's in a way they hadn't for years: They had fun – and lots of it. People see i'm lovin' it in all our ads. This time they felt it.