CASE 139 / McDonald’s Canada / 2018
Follow the Arches
Turn an owned brand asset into a useful cue at the exact moment a customer needs direction.
AI-assisted research and analysis for the SNS Creative Fieldbook; published by SNS Media Tech. No named human reviewer is claimed.
Sources reviewed 2026-11-05
Campaign credits belong to the original creators. They did not write or endorse this analysis.
Credits: Cossette; OMD and Novus credited for media.
Recognition: 2018 One Show Gold Pencil, Design: Experiential / Environmental / Wayfinding.
Launch / edition: 2018. Award years: 2018.
The problem. The idea. The experience.
McDonald’s had a familiar identity but inconsistent signs directing people to its restaurants. Cossette treated this ordinary navigation problem as a design opportunity: make directions useful while bringing them back into the brand’s visual system.
How the idea came to life
The agency cropped the golden arches into directional shapes and paired them with very short instructions. A portion of the logo became a route cue. The composition depended on an already recognisable colour-and-shape combination rather than explaining the brand from scratch.
How it reached people
The February 2018 announcement specified four billboards, three static and one digital, in high-traffic Toronto and Greater Toronto Area locations. The design was described as adaptable across markets, but that ambition is not evidence that every market implemented it.
Supporting sources: Primary agency announcement → Primary award archive →
Read the data in context.
The numbers below describe different kinds of outcomes. Their date, scope and reporting source are part of the result.
The One Show awarded the work a 2018 Gold Pencil in wayfinding. The opened agency and award pages explain the design and placements but do not report controlled restaurant-traffic lift. Helpful signage and award recognition should not be converted into an unsupported sales result.
The creative mechanism.
Brand asset as utility
Look for utility hiding inside routine advertising
A directional placement has a specific job before it has an aesthetic one: helping someone reach a destination. List the questions people have at that location, such as which exit or which side of the street. Creative value grows when the brand makes the answer simpler rather than asking the traveller to solve a separate advertising puzzle.
Know which assets can survive subtraction
Cropping works when enough distinctive information remains. A smaller brand may need its full name, address or a category descriptor. Test recognition with people outside the team before removing those cues. Minimalism is an outcome of sufficient brand memory, not a universal rule for making every advertisement look more sophisticated.
Treat location as part of the message
An arrow can be beautifully branded and still be wrong for a particular approach. Validate sightlines, travel direction, safe turning options and the actual store entrance. A scalable design system needs local checks, because repeating the same art file across placements is not the same as repeating a useful experience.
Measure successful arrival rather than design admiration
Ask whether people found the destination faster and with fewer wrong turns. For a commercial trial, compare similar sites or time periods while accounting for weather, roadworks and promotions. Design awards and social reposts can describe cultural interest, but navigation success is the first test of a wayfinding campaign.
The intended behavior loop
- 01See useful cue
- 02Navigate correctly
- 03Reach the store
Growth job: Conversion → Product understanding. This is an interpretation of the mechanism, not an audited attribution model.
A direction to take into the room.
Original editorial interpretation and proposed adaptation. This is a proposed adaptation, not historical campaign execution or a forecast.
The transferable principle
Turn an owned brand asset into a useful cue at the exact moment a customer needs direction.
Keep these boundaries
Do not remove essential directions or assume an unfamiliar logo fragment will be recognised at speed.
Turn the lesson into a test.
Illustrative adaptation, not a historical campaign fact
A small-team experiment
A neighbourhood retailer tests one authorised pedestrian sign that combines its strongest visual asset with a clear direction and walking time.
Build the test
- Map the real approach route and confirm landlord or municipal permission.
- Compare a branded version with a conventional arrow, preserving readable text and contrast.
- Ask first-time visitors to find the entrance without coaching, then record confusion points.
Measure the right thing
Track successful arrival, time taken and wrong turns; treat store sales as a separate downstream question.
Know when to stop
Remove the sign if it creates unsafe movement, accessibility confusion or a misleading route.
How this reading fits your brief
Start with the useful part.
Best for: Conversion → Product understanding
What to adapt: Turn an owned brand asset into a useful cue at the exact moment a customer needs direction.
Prerequisites: Recognisable assets; Placement permission; Local navigation testing.
Smaller-team route: A neighbourhood retailer tests one authorised pedestrian sign that combines its strongest visual asset with a clear direction and walking time.
Budget: Not established by the opened evidence. No cost-fit claim is made.
Trade-offs and evidence: Read the limits below before choosing a test. There is no guaranteed reach, sales lift or ROAS.
Questions for your next brief
Sources & further reading.
Brand and award-entry results are attributed claims, not independent causal audits. Source links open the original third-party pages.
- Cossette: Follow the Arches launch →Primary agency announcement · Supports: 13 February 2018; four Toronto-area billboards; design, objective and media credits.
- The One Show: Follow the Arches →Primary award archive · Supports: 2018 Gold in wayfinding; Cossette Toronto and Montreal credits.
Independent educational analysis of external campaigns. These are not SNS client projects, endorsements or claims of involvement. Campaign facts and reported outcomes are attributed to their sources. Explanations, adaptations and test plans are original analysis and hypotheses, not proven causal findings.