Aussies' unique Macca’s traditions – like dipping fries in sundaes, enjoying a wedding day McDonald’s burger, and bunny-hopping through the Drive-Thru on your P Plates – are the focus of the restaurant’s 50th birthday campaign from DDB Sydney.

The hero TVC celebrates the role Macca’s has played in Aussie lives and Aussie culture since its first local restaurant opened in Yagoona in 1971. 

A second brand TVC thanks Macca’s crew members past and present who have kept the doors open for 50 years, and, like the hero film, is set to Daryl Braithwaite’s iconic Aussie tune, The Horses.

The 10-week integrated campaign is running across TV, OOH, social, digital, print, and radio. 

OOH and print executions honour the perfect pairing that is Drive-Thru and a road trip, and acknowledges that while ‘We arrived as McDonald’s, you made us Macca’s’. 

Macca’s has pulled out all stops to mark the milestone birthday, launching limited time food items including the Birthday Cake McFlurry, exciting activations, and merch collaborations with iconic Aussie designers.

McDonald’s Australia national marketing manager Amanda Nakad said: “Aussies have welcomed Macca’s into their lives for 50 years – from birthday parties and road trips, to late night snacks and post-match feeds. Combined with our crew, they made us who we are today."

The brand’s 50th Australian birthday also marks McDonald’s 50th anniversary with its creative agency, DDB. 

DDB Australia chief creative officer Ben Welsh said: “Macca’s brought the Drive-Thru, Australia brought the road trip. Thanks for 50 years of Happy Meals and Hash Browns.”