Maccas Reveals First Packaging Overhaul In Three Years, Launches Hot New Concept Store in Hong Kong

Maccas Reveals First Packaging Overhaul In Three Years, Launches Hot New Concept Store in Hong Kong
B&T Magazine
By B&T Magazine



Maccas is still fighting the good fight of stuffing people’s faces with fatty (albeit ‘fancy’) foods, launching fresh packaging and a concept store to boot.

McDonald’s is taking its tired old brown paper bags and overhauling them with bright lettering and a fresh approach to its iconic Golden Arches.

The shake up is the chain’s first global packaging change in three years, and it’s certainly about time.

The overhaul has, per AdAge, been in the works since 2014, with an A-list team brought together in London around a year ago to make the overhaul happen, including designers from Leo Burnett Germany, TBWA US, DDB Hong Kong, Creata Australia, Boxer UK, Landini Australia and Forpeople UK.

McDonald’s senior director-global brand development Matt Biespiel has called the new design, which still features the classic arches and the “I’m lovin’ it” slogan, a “really looking and feeling modern, feeling progressive”.

The last packaging design 2013-2015

The last packaging design 2013-2015

“It’s hard to say who gets the credit for the actual design because everyone had a hand in shaping the thinking,” Biespiel added, per AdAge.

The new look is taking its first spin around the block in the US before spreading out to the rest of the world, and features colours such as Passionate Purple, Optimistic Orange, Zesty Lime and Magical Magenta, and no we didn’t make these names up.

Biespiel added that consumers “really liked the designs that leaned into our core assets and icons”, hence the reason the company decided “to make the Golden Arches so dynamic”.

For example, the front of one bag features the golden arches, which stretch to the adjoining side panel. The other large side of the bag might include the name of one of the foodie faves like a Big Mac or delicious tasty nuggets in a brighter shade.

And Maccas isn’t stopping there, launching its new look concept stores in Hong Kong last week.

The burgers are served on wooden boards, there are bowls of asparagus and quinoa on the menu, staff deliver meals to your tables and there’s absolutely no sign anywhere of Ronald or Hamburglar.

The brand is steamrolling ahead with its new ideas, and the new concept store in Hong Kong’s busy Admiralty business and shopping district, featuring everything from mood lighting to dessert bars, is testament to that.

The McDonald’s Next restaurant was designed by Australian company Landini Associates to compete with higher-end burger joints, according to The Independent.

The Sydney-based design company told Dezeen magazine the grey-walled restaurant is “an experiment in non-design”.

“The colourful graphic environments that became the signature for McDonald’s internationally, are now replaced with a simpler, quieter and more classic approach.

“The intention is to hero the food, the service and the people who come to enjoy it, and to create a ‘recognisable neutrality’ that allows this to happen.”

The restaurant incorporates an open kitchen design, computerised lamps that vary in intensity depending on what time of day it is, and the ability to order not just from the counter or kiosk, but from your very own waiter.

Landini Associates is now working on similar stores in Australia, China and Singapore, per Fairfax reports.

 




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