Agency: We Are Unlimited

Client: McDonald's

Three decades ago, Norm Cox revolutionized the internet with the "Hamburger Menu." Fast forward to 2018, McDonald’s honored him on his birthday by transforming the iconic icon into a tasty McDonald’s burger for a day. Fans could order a burger through this special menu on Reddit and McDonald’s mobile apps, celebrating the genius behind its creation.

This was my first project when starting to work with the We Are Unlimited (“Unltd”) team in 2018. I was asked quite simply, “Can we order a burger from anywhere on the Internet?”. To which I responded, “yes”, of course. This was my first "Skunkworks Idea"

No items found.

AMA WIth Norm Cox

Skunkworks Thinking

From the get-go, we aimed to create a stunt that pushed the boundaries of transparency. Working with the Untld team, we delved into experimenting with programmatically inserting our banner into mobile website drop-down menus. The challenge? Current web security practices make website spoofing tough. So, we took a cue from hackers, creating a cached version of sites like ESPN, altering their content, and then displaying them to users under a different URL. Think of it like phishing scams (man-in-the-middle), but without the malicious intent. While our legal team had reservations, we had a solid proof-of-concept before they raised their concerns. Our initial idea hit legal roadblocks due to inserting McDonald’s ads into websites. It seemed almost impossible until we teamed up with Reddit. The concept evolved from ordering a hamburger anywhere online to ordering it specifically through Reddit’s hamburger menu. Reddit was fantastic, even dressing up their mascot Snoo as the “Hamburglar.” Initially set for National Cheeseburger Day in September, the launch was delayed. To add some geeky fun, we hid an ASCII art graphic in the source code, allowing users to download the new hamburger menu icon for themselves.

REVIEWS

I asked him to make something fairly impossible and gave him no room for compromise. He and his team figured out a way to do that.

ECD

McCann New York

He can be a real asset when amazing but complicated things need to get done.

Executive Creative

Serviceplan/Pereira O'Dell

Alexander had an impressive ability to explain complex ideas and functionality clearly & calmly.

GCD

Critical Mass

Icon left
Icon right
RECENT ROLES  (MORE ON LINKEDIN →)
Executive Creative & Technology Director
Mediacom
Global Director of Creative & Technology
Critical Mass
Head of Creative Technology
Framestore
CTO, Innovation & Emerging Platforms
DDB North America
CONTACT ME

Questions, comments, or just want to say hi? You can also find me on LinkedIn →.

Thanks!

Your message has been sent

Send more
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.