Leo UK’s returning platform sees legendary food from gaming properties made real, including Halo, Fallout, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush
McDonald’s and Leo UK are bringing legendary food from games into the real world with their “Side Missions” platform, teaming up with XBOX in an immersive 360 campaign co-created with gaming fans.
At the centre of the partnership is a limited-time Side Missions Menu, inspired by iconic and often mythical foods from each game. The menu brings in-game food into the real world, from Halo-inspired Black Pepper & Garlic McNuggets, based on Moa Nuggets, to Blamco Cheese Bites inspired by Fallout 76’s™ Blamco Mac & Cheese.
First launched in 2025, Side Missions was built on a simple fan truth, that a trip to McDonald’s is often life’s best detour. This year, rather than simply borrowing from gaming culture, McDonald’s is creating a campaign together with fans of six of XBOX’s most recognisable gaming franchises: Halo: Campaign Evolved, Fallout 76, Forza Horizon 6, Overwatch, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush.
The 360, co-created campaign begins with teaser activity on 11th August through XBOX and IP-owned social channels, with McDonald’s Golden Arches reimagined in the visual language of each game. Gaming creators, such as Poopernoddle & Blue & Queenie, will also participate in the campaign by leaking and teasing the collaboration, using streams and social content to seed the idea that legendary in-game food is coming to McDonald’s.
On 19th August, a creator preview and tasting event will give gaming creators early access to the menu, packaging and game-inspired details before launch. The event will be built around immersive zones themed around the core IPs, blending gaming lore, Easter eggs and menu discovery moments to co-create content designed to travel across fan communities.
Paid Social and creator activity will bring the idea to life, showing characters and real cosplayers trialling and reviewing the new menu items. Paid and earned creators including Jakey Davies & George Clarke, will bring the Side Missions Menu to life through reviews, reactions, easter eggs and fan-led content, while TikTok activity will encourage fans to create their own Side Missions. On YouTube, the campaign will make use of collaborative posting opportunities across XBOX and game IP channels to help gaming communities participate in the campaign.
At launch on 22nd August, a 60” hero film shows iconic gaming characters abandoning their main missions to go on a Side Mission to McDonald’s. The spot opens with a scene from Halo: Campaign Evolved™, where two Marines take a tactical detour to go on a Side Mission to McDonald’s. The film shows characters from the six gaming titles convening in McDonald’s, having also left their games. The film will run across TV, social and digital, with supporting cutdowns.
OOH and in-restaurant activity will make the partnership visible in the real world, using visuals from in the games to create the packaging and menu items. Contextual placements, including journey-led prompts such as Citymapper activity, will encourage fans to leave their main missions to go on a Side Mission to McDonald’s.
The partnership extends into the MyMcDonald’s App, where customers can access daily deals and use their Rewards points to unlock exclusive in-game items in the participating titles. The rewards include bundles, emotes, boosters and skins, with one of the unlocks being a McDonald’s inspired Master Chief Armor for Halo: Campaign Evolved™.
Tim Kenward, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald’s UK & Ireland, said: “Gaming is all about imagination and the worlds we love to get lost in. What excites me about this partnership is that we’re bringing parts of these iconic gaming worlds to life, giving fans the chance to experience food they have only ever seen on screen. As a huge Fallout fan, I’m most excited for the Blamco Cheesy Potato Bites.”
Andrew Long, Chief Creative Officer at Leo UK, said: “For years fans have been bringing McDonald’s iconic food into the world of their favourite games. So now felt like the perfect moment to turn the tables, by bringing the most iconic food from fans’ favourite games into the world of McDonald’s. From Halo™ Moa Chicken to Fallout™ Blamco Cheese, there’s never been a better excuse to take a side mission to McDonald’s.”
The campaign was created by Leo UK for McDonald’s. Media planning and buying was handled by OMD. PR and consumer outreach was handled by Red Consultancy. CRM was handled by TMW, digital by tms, and POP communications by Linney.
Credits
Campaign title: McDonald’s Side Missions
CCO (at time of campaign development): Mark Elwood
Executive Creative Director (at time of campaign development): Andrew Long
Creative Directors: Jason Keet, James Hodson
Senior Creatives: Abi Stephenson, Matt Jones
Head of Strategy: Joe Beveridge
Head of Comms Strategy: Jen Leung
Planning Director: Beth Mackenzie
Managing Director: Sam Houlston
Senior Account Director: Charlotte Crawley
Senior Account Manager: Brittony Kelly
Account Manager: Mollie O’Sullivan
Account Executive: Gabriella Joseph
Head of Project Management: Siobhan Mulcahy
Senior Project Manager: Annie Imam
Design Director: Paul Reddington
Lead Senior Designer: Roxana Iriciuc
Senior Designer: Tomek Drozdowski
Motion Design Director: Carmen Perez Jimenez
Senior Motion Designer: Jacson Mitchell
Motion Designer: Bey Redding-O’Brien
Studio Director: Ricky Pettiford
Head of McDonald’s Production: Anna Cartwright
Senior Producer: Helen Choonpicharn
Broadcast Affairs Coordinator: Michelle Ward
Marketing & Menu Director: Hannah Pain
Head of Marketing Food and Beverage: Liz Whitbread
Heads of Brand: Chloe Bissell, Harriet Buchanan
Marketing Manager (Brand): Alexandra Martin
Marketing Managers: James Story , Stephanie Pullen
Marketing Manager, Digital Comms: Ana Saffer
Consumer PR Lead: Melodie Richards
Senior Brand Managers: Harry Jessop, Ciara Reddington , Celia Brown, Joanna Maycock
Marketing Consultant: Elizabeth Culverhouse
Assistant Brand Manager: Andriana Georgiou
Campaign Assistants: Martina Avolio, Abbie Johnson
Home Economists (Stills): Elaine Ngan, Udo Reichelt-Schaurer
Head of Art Production (Publicis Production): Jo Hodge
Stills Production & Post-Production Agency: Publicis Production
Post-Production Agency (CG): Black Kite Studios
Director’s Assistant: Caroline Soussen
Executive Producer: Darapen Vongsa-nga
Production Manager: Rosie Pike
Production Assistant: Hayley Norton
Production Designer: Olly Williams
Offline Edit: Sam Bould @ tenthree
Offline Edit Assistant: Alice Payne
Production Company: Darling Films Ltd
Executive Producer: Claire Timms
Production Designer: Olly Williams
Home Economist: Udo Reichelt-Schaurer
Assistant Food Stylist: Olha Diachenko
Offline Edit: Adam Rudd @ Final Cut
Offline Edit Assistant: Ruby Browne
Post-Production: Black Kite Studios
Creative Director: Phil Oldham
VFX Leads: Andrew Bartholomew, Jorge Montiel Meurer
VFX Artists: Alexandra Lucut, Andrea Malpede, Chris Gill, Daniel Moore, David Early, David Wanger, David Watson, Elia Goettlicher, Ethan Francis, Federico Sguera, Florian Mounié, Guy Lubin, Heidi Prescott, James Bown, James Hansell, James Russell, Jamie Lancaster, Jim Cullen, Joel Paulin, Lino Khay, Martin Villert, Matt Hutchins, Neil Szymanski, Pablo Oliver, Rémy Herissé, Sith Khay, Sophie Langton, Stephen Greaves, Theo Mall, Tom Mackay-Thomas, William Bell
VFX Executive Producer: Hazel Gibson
VFX Senior Producer: Hannah Jarrold
VFX Production Coordinator: Leanne Gillett Finglas
Senior VFX Producer: Phil Brewster
CG Team: Sophie Langton, Alfie Gunter, Darren Macpherson
Compositing Team: Laurence Lavoie, Emily Govinden, Antoine Delclaud, Theo Mall
Production Company: Publicis Production
Social Editor: Francesco Altamura
Public Production Producer: Alex McNair Scott
Post-Production: Publicis Production
Post Producer: Alex McNair Scott
Sound Design + Mix: Sam Ashwell + Mike Bovill
Head of Production: Rachel Saxon
Sound Design + Mix: Mike Bovill
Sound Engineer: Matt Valentine
Head of Production: Rachel Saxon
Music Supervisors: Ronnie Olubayo and David Bass @ Wake the Town
