After four months of animation, 1100 hours of set construction and enough rehearsals to wear out a few pairs of big red shoes, DDB is guiding McDonald’s new The Ronald Show – The Hamburglar Hunt on its current tour of New Zealand.
McDonald’s creative agency DDB worked with leading producer Rob McLaughlin to develop the show concept and script, which sees Ronald travel around the world searching for Hamburglar.
The custom set, built by Bootleg, features a 1.5 x 2.5 metre digital screen and bubble, smoke and snow machines. Weighing in at 600kg, the components can be moved and assembled at sites like malls, or use the Ronald ‘Make it Click’ truck as the stage.
While Ronald appears in real life, he interacts with a series of animated characters on the big screen.
“Ronald has been travelling around NZ performing shows for 30 years – and the new show is a real Kiwi collaboration thanks to some fantastically creative people.”
The characters and 3D settings were designed and built from scatch by local production company Toy Box over four months. As you’d expect, Grimace, Birdie and Hamburglar all feature, while Ronald makes friends with Cara Kea, Ozzy the Orca, Evelin Escargo, and Kevin Kiwi as he travels to Mt Cook, Sydney, Paris and Wellington.
“Ronald has been travelling around New Zealand performing shows for nearly 30 years,” explains Jo Mitchell, director of marketing at McDonald’s New Zealand. “We’ve got a pretty unique relationship with Ronald, and the new show is a real Kiwi collaboration thanks to some fantastically creative people.
“Family is at the heart of our brand, and it’s awesome to see New Zealand families enjoying the new Ronald show. Kids get as much enjoyment out of the smoke machines and Ronald’s jokes and songs as they do from the animation and characters on screen.”
The new Ronald show travels around the country throughout the year, with performances at McDonald’s restaurants, malls and other events.
CREDITS
Client: McDonald’s
Director of Marketing: Joanne Mitchell
Head of Communications: Simon Kenny
Agency: DDB NZ
Lead Business Partner: Karla Fisher
Business Director: Camille Coltman
Producer/Director: Rob McLaughlin
Animation: Toybox
Set: Bootleg
Audio Post: Sale St Studios – Nigel Foster
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