Leo UK and McDonald’s turn UK & Irish fans’ ‘most wanted’ menu items into a heist
Creative agency Leo UK and McDonald’s have brought back the highly-successful ‘World Menu Heist’ campaign for a second year, using social listening to identify fans’ most-desired menu items outside the UK and Ireland and ‘steal’ them for availability in the UK&I market.
The campaign is fuelled by creators acting as ‘the insiders’ and amplified by partners acting as ‘the reporters’, letting fans participate in the heist through classified intel, creator content and real-time updates. The haul features nine products from eight countries, representing the largest number of new items McDonald’s UK has launched within a single campaign. These include Germany’s Big Rösti, Canada’s Maple & Cheddar Chicken, and China’s Szechuan Sauce.
Launching on 22 September with the first of two 30-second hero films created by Leo UK, the eight-week campaign will run across TV, cinema, out-of-home advertising, social, radio, CRM, partnerships, activations and events. On 25 September, media and creators were able to attend an immersive London event set inside the secure vault where the stolen menu items were being kept, where they could taste the menu, explore the heist world and co-create content to share across their channels.
Perfect Storm wins pitch to support GEO Speciality Chemicals through next phase of growth
Full-service Yorkshire marketing agency Perfect Storm has been appointed to support GEO Speciality Chemicals on business transformation, brand and communications strategy following a competitive pitch.
Southampton-based GEO is on a transformative growth journey having been recently acquired by successful private equity fund The Enact Fund. GEO’s chemistries feature in a diverse range of products and applications that people encounter and rely on in their everyday lives. These include nail polish, contact lenses, dentistry, adhesives and specialist coatings.
Perfect Storm will set out to unlock growth for GEO via clearer strategy, sharper communications and a stronger brand. The appointment adds to the agency’s growing portfolio of work with businesses undergoing change, growth and transformation.
Pack’d appoints Digital Natives as social-first agency partner
Frozen fruit and vegetables provider Pack’d has appointed Digital Natives as its strategic agency partner, in the process setting out to become one of the UK’s leading social-first FMCG brands.
Digital Natives will lead a range of activity tailored to maximising campaign moments, supporting product launches helping PACK’D deliver its growth ambitions across the rest of 2026 and into 2027. The engagement covers organic social strategy, content planning, production, influencer marketing, and campaign development to deliver social that will drive both brand growth and commercial impact.
The appointment marks the latest step in Digital Natives’ expansion, following recent wins in both the US & Europe, including Colgate Palmolive, Fujifilm, and KP Snacks’ Whole Earth and Tyrrell’s brands.
Enjoy Digital strengthens financial services portfolio with two new client wins
Leeds-based digital agency Enjoy Digital has strengthened its financial services portfolio with two new client wins spanning debt advice and wealth management. The agency has recently added StepChange and Titan Wealth to its client roster, building up Enjoy Digital’s expertise across multiple stages of the financial wellbeing journey, from helping customers navigate financial difficulty through to building long-term wealth.
The wins come at a time when financial services organisations are navigating significant shifts in customer expectations, digital behaviour and attitudes towards technology. They reinforce Enjoy Digital’s wider ambition to help businesses improve customer acquisition, engagement and digital performance within regulated sectors.
This announcement comes ahead of Enjoy Digital’s upcoming Technology Trust Gap in Financial Services event, which builds on the agency’s growing experience and independent research in the sector. The event will explore how trust, technology and customer expectations are changing and what businesses need to do to respond.
Nexer Digital and Crisis team up to transform its digital services, make support & action on homelessness more accessible
National homelessness charity Crisis has appointed Nexer Digital to transform its website and create a clearer and more accessible experience for more than one million people who visit it each year. The Macclesfield-based human-centred design agency will work to create simpler online journeys for people experiencing homelessness, donors, fundraisers, campaigners, volunteers and community partners.
The new website will make it easier for members to find support and community resources, and for supporters to donate, fundraise, campaign and take part in events, as well as helping Crisis demonstrate the impact of its work more effectively. Nexer Digital will involve the people who use Crisis’s website in its design and testing, including members with lived experience of homelessness and people with accessibility needs.
The project will support Crisis’s ambition to increase its impact, engage more supporters and generate vital income, while making the website easier for Crisis’s teams to manage. Nexer Digital is providing specialists across research, content, design, development, accessibility, data and testing. The website is expected to launch in early 2027, after which the agency will provide Crisis with ongoing digital support.
Dentsu Creative and Sky Vegas launch new brand platform, reconnecting with Sky heritage
Online casino Sky Vegas has partnered with Dentsu Creative to launch ‘Primetime Play’, a new long-term brand platform reconnecting the brand with Sky’s heritage as one of the UK’s leading entertainment brands. The new platform brings together entertainment, gaming and the Sky Vegas brand world, creating a foundation for how the brand will show up across communications and the wider customer experience.
The campaign is fronted by actor Kaya Scodelario, and the campaign film follows her through an immersive Sky Vegas world featuring larger-than-life gaming environments including lava, diamond vaults, tropical rainforests and a giant Kraken.
Primetime Play builds on Sky Vegas’ ‘Big Entertainment in Small Moments’ proposition, bringing a new sense of scale, excitement and entertainment to the moments in between. The launch spans TV, VOD, social, radio, digital audio, sponsorship idents, digital display, CRM and owned channels, alongside a major national Out of Home campaign.
Bountiful Cow wins Butternut Box brand media account
Independent media agency Bountiful Cow has been appointed by dog food company Butternut Box, a provider of subscription boxes of fresh dog food that was founded in 2016.
The agency will lead above-the-line media strategy, planning and buying for Butternut Box, supporting the brand as it continues its mission to make fresh food the default choice for pet owners. The account was awarded following a competitive pitch process run in-house.
Butternut Box’s team has stated that they were looking for a partner who could bring specialist expertise to the table while working as a genuine extension of the team, a combination they felt very strongly with Bountiful Cow.
SuperHeroes puts the city centre stage in ParkBee’s ‘Better City Parking’ campaign
Independent creative agency SuperHeroes has launched ‘Better City Parking’, a new campaign for ParkBee that puts the city, rather than the parking space, centre stage as the brand looks to broaden perceptions beyond its roots as a garage parking app.
The campaign uses bold, humorous visuals that exaggerate familiar urban moments in order to drive home the message that people don’t go to the city to park, but to experience what it has to offer. The creative contrasts the chaos, surprises and energy of city life with the simplicity ParkBee brings to parking – positioning the app as a way for drivers to spend less time, money and attention finding a space, and more on their destination.
The campaign is being rolled out across the Netherlands and Belgium, running for four weeks in the Netherlands and eight weeks in Belgium, specifically in Brussels. It spans digital out-of-home, online and digital radio, YouTube, Meta, Connected TV, SVOD and display advertising, supported by retargeting, search and app-install activity. SuperHeroes was responsible for the overarching strategy and creative output, as well as owning the entire media execution.
Wonderhood Studios launches Ministry of Justice’s biggest-ever magistrates recruitment campaign
Wonderhood Studios has launched the Ministry of Justice’s biggest-ever campaign with the aim of challenging perceptions about who can do the role by showing that the skills needed to deliver justice can be found in people from all walks of life.
The campaign is part of the Government’s drive to build a 21,000-strong magistracy in 2028/29. Wonderhood Studios set out to close the gap between perceptions and reality with the creative platform ‘You’ve got the makings of a magistrate’.
The 30-second hero film follows Tala as she prepares for an interview to become a magistrate with help from her boyfriend. As he quizzes her on what she thinks the role demands, seemingly ordinary moments from Tala’s life reveal that she has been developing the relevant qualities all along. The film moves forward to reveal her confidently sitting alongside fellow magistrates in court, before closing with the line: ‘An extraordinary role. Done by someone like you.’
A series of shorter films expands the idea by focusing on individual attributes including patience, teamwork, making tough decisions and being good with people. The campaign will run across TV, VOD, online video, social and radio throughout the UK. Media is handled by WPP 650, with production by Kode Media, editing by Work Editorial and sound and post-production by Rascal Studios.
Gain Theory study examines AI and marketing measurement
Marketing effectiveness consultancy Gain Theory has published research examining how organisations are using AI in marketing measurement.
The study surveyed 103 senior marketing leaders, including executives responsible for marketing, effectiveness, analytics, data science and insights. Three per cent said their organisation’s infrastructure, compliance and team skills were fully optimised to deploy AI in marketing measurement.
The research found that 62% identified AI-driven speed as the marketing mix modelling development that had most improved decision-making over the previous 12 to 24 months, while 58% reported a gap between measurement insights and decisions. It also found that 52% use a hybrid MMM approach, compared with 29% using SaaS or in-house models and 18% using a consultancy-led approach.
