The Grandma McFlurry debuts May 21, but for folks in NYC today and Sunday, the Grandma’s McFlurry Mobile will make stops at senior center and assisted living facilities to spread joy. Listen for a McDonald’s jingle playing through the truck’s speaker.

Grab your coziest cardigan and dig in!

“Anime is a huge part of today’s culture, and we love that our fans have been inviting us into the conversation for years,” says Tariq Hassan, chief marketing and customer experience officer at McDonald’s USA, in press materials. “The WcDonald’s universe is a reflection of what fans have created. It honors their vision and celebrates their creativity, while authentically bringing it to life in our restaurants for the first time ever.”

Fans ordering WcNuggets can try a limited edition ginger, soy and garlic sauce called savory chili. The brand partnered with Japanese manga artist/illustrator Acky Bright to design manga-inspired packaging featuring WcDonald’s Crew characters like Hashirune, Mr. Bev and WcDizer 3000.

“We’re flipping the logo on as many surfaces as possible. The bag itself is now a manga. The fry box is even flipping the logo, and that’s packaging that rarely gets touched,” says W+K’s Ben Capshaw and Jeffrey Rozman.

We’re becoming WcDonald’s and we’re doing what any anime or manga fan would want… we’re making anime and manga. 

McD’s also collaborated with Studio Pierrot to create four WcDonald’s anime shorts, dropping every Monday from Feb. 26 to March 18.

“The Race to WcDonald’s,” “Love From Across the Booth,” “WcNuggets Space Frontier 3000” and “The Wisdom of the Sauce” will cover action, romance, mecha and fantasy subgenres.

For those in Los Angeles, an IRL WcDonald’s dining experience will be available on March 9-10. Starting Feb. 28, fans can reserve a table via OpenTable.

“This idea isn’t contrived in any way. It comes from a naturally-occurring anime trope and that’s why we’ve made it so authentically,” the pair tell Muse. “We’ve used the best talent in the anime industry and have cut no corners in making this for anime lovers. People across the globe have seen WcDonald’s in their favorite anime series and now, for the first time, they’ll be able to visit that world, live out an anime experience in real life and hopefully see themselves reflected in the characters we’ve created.”

CLICK HERE to watch all of this year’s Super Bowl commercials. 

“An idea about delivering all the stuff from all the Super Bowls ads was in our original pitch presentation to DoorDash but, I’ll be honest, we threw it in as more of ‘this would be awesome but it’s probably impossible’ idea,” says Bertie Scrase, CD at  W+K. “There was a real hunger from the team at DoorDash and here at W+K to do something that proved that idea out in the most ambitious way possible.”

“The idea needed to have that perfect combination of ludicrous ambition and simplicity. All the stuff from the ads delivered to one person was that. Then the way of getting it all being a special promo code was the big unlock. That felt like something so true and ownable to delivery and ordering. I believe that breakthrough idea came on a Barcelona rooftop bar after a 14 hour shoot.”

CLICK HERE to watch all of this year’s Super Bowl commercials as they’re released. 

Alongside the College Fund, Wieden+Kennedy Portland has supported this movement for over 30 years. It’s the third oldest account in the building and the one that managed to get David Kennedy out of retirement (was he ever really retired, though?). In those 30 years, the College Fund has seen over 300,000 Natives graduates. Considering the fact we didn’t even gain civil rights until 1968 (four years after the Civil Rights Act passed for everyone else) it allowed us to open our own colleges for the first time. I mean, that is quite a reason to celebrate.

So on this account, we wanted to highlight the growing number of Native Americans with college degrees, while also celebrating the Indigenous experience. W+K created the “Move Aside” campaign for the College Fund based on the simple concept of a job application letter where we witness a Native graduate (played by Reservation Dogs’ Elva Guerra) preparing to take on her workday, and ultimately, design her own future.

But this is a bit more revolutionary than just a spot. When was the last time you saw a commercial with Native Americans? And nah, the current playoff commercials for the Braves don’t count. Neither does the coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Film and advertising severely lack authentic Indigenous representation, which is partly why this spot is so unique in its sincere efforts to tap native talent for key roles. We made the choice to make sincere and authentic work. So, we needed sincere voices.

For this campaign, we tapped Indigenous director Erica Tremblay (Seneca–Cayuga) for her first commercial, and she brought in the incredibly cool Indigenous production designer Tavf Sampson (Muscogee). We also tapped Indigenous actress Elva Guerra (Ponca Nation), who plays Jackie on the acclaimed television series Reservation Dogs.

I am Stockbridge-Mohican, and I led creative development on the work. As the copywriter, I tapped into my own experiences to help inform “Move Aside.” From noting what I wore on my first internship, to how I flip my earrings when I check myself in the mirror—that’s all a part of me. I used language and messaging that I yearn to see in Indigenous spots—channeling an empowering voice and cheeky humor.

You just can’t make good work about culture without including the culture. That isn’t just true for Indigenous work, it’s true for a lot more.

But this work also wouldn’t exist without the talents and intentions of a lot of good people and allies. I am thankful to work alongside some of the best like art director Brad Trost and Kennedy’s longtime creative director partner, Patty Orlando.

You’re an iguana, and you want to soar through sky. Now, you can’t buy a ticket on a commercial airline, or learn how to fly a light plane. Because you’re an iguana. It’s a cool life, but there are limitations.

Naturally, you turn to a feathered friend for an assist.

Aeroméxico and Wieden + Kennedy spin this animated tale in a short film that introduces the global tagline, “Estar Cerca, Llegar Lejos.” (“Being Close, Getting Far”). 

Little critter looks kinda green. Guess air travel doesn’t agree with him. As for Mr. Bald Eagle, well, he’s got an in-flight snack perched on his back.

Kidding, of course. No lizards were sickened or consumed in the making of this commercial.

“Aeroméxico has always been an iconic Mexican company, and now, we have the honor to expand the brand’s legacy and strengthen its connection with consumers,” says Jessica Apellainz, ECD, W+K Mexico. “Together, we created a campaign inspired by timeless animated films audiences know and love, with the hope that it resonates with a new generation of flyers.”

Adds agency CD José Ferraz: “Our messaging has to resonate with literally everyone, from little kids to grandmas. So, we took a cue from those timeless animated classics that many of us hold fond memories of. and dove headfirst into that magical universe.”

“But instead of the usual mice or squirrels,” he says, “we embraced full-on Latino mode, making an iguana the unexpected yet lovable hero.”

Reptiles are a thing in commercials these days. Seems fitting, as the ad game’s always been cold blooded. It gets more so all the time.

Directed by Nic Yalouris of The Mill, and part of a broader campaign, “Esto es Volar” (“This Is Flying”), work breaks this week across TV, digital media and social. 

But not all flights run the full minute and half, with edits as short as 6 seconds in the mix.

Here’s a BTS pic of the ad’s star—an impressively realistic model—on set:

“Travel has become so much more than picking a place out on a map. It has become personal. It’s not just about going to see Oregon. It’s about going to see Oregon in a way that is green and sustainable,” says Nick Stokes, creative director at W+K. “It’s not just about seeing the landmarks. It’s about going deeper and discovering the true gems this place has to offer in a way where you know you’ll be welcome and prepared no matter who you are or what your experience.”

Take it from the omnipotent celestial Dark Sky: “I have gazed down upon this land for many millennia. My love has grown with each. We are grateful for the opportunity to reveal what one can truly experience.”

A 30-second version of the ad will run during live events like the Women’s World Cup, NFL coverage and College Football games, as well as on Hulu, Peacock and YouTube. Out-of-home ads will appear along the West Coast and digitally at EV charging stations.

Marcus Collins believes the concept of “culture” is badly misunderstood, and the Wieden+Kennedy strategy chief explores this phenomenon in his first book, For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be.

The idea sprang from his doctoral courses at Temple University. Collins studied social contagion within a cultural context, probing how brands and products spread within communities. He gravitated to hip-hop as the focal point, viewing it as a movement that touches virtually every industry: jewelry, fashion, auto, tech, beauty and sports.

For Collins, connections are common threads, from carbon chains joining to create plastics or music bringing people together. As a marketer, he is well-placed to dissect the meaning of culture and share what he knows with the masses. His goal: helping brands, politicians, leaders, managers and anyone with a vested interest in getting people to move in a desired direction.

Currently on a nationwide book tour, Collins spoke to Muse on why culture is so difficult to understand, how to grasp it and how he hopes this book will help people achieve their ambitions.

MUSE: What led you to write this book?

Marcus Collins: It’s twofold—both from a practicing side and a personal side. I realized that in our industry—marketing, communications, advertising—we often use the phrases like “let’s get an idea out into culture,” or “let’s make sure it’s informed by culture” or “what’s going on in culture.” And those are all great statements. But if you ask five people to define culture, you get 35 different answers. And that’s a problem. Because if we don’t have the language to describe culture, we can’t leverage it—’it’ being the most powerful external influential force on human behavior.

As I was writing this book, I realized that there’s something far more personal there. I’m from Detroit, born and raised, and did well in math and science in high school. And if you’re Black, from Detroit and excelled in math and science, you’re going to be an engineer, full stop. I was pursuing that degree because of conventions and expectations. During college, I realized I wanted to be a songwriter. My parents didn’t agree and [at that point] I didn’t know I could describe what was happening to me. Writing this book 20 years later, I could see that there were forces telling me what to do. And because I didn’t have the language to describe it, I didn’t have the agency to navigate it.

Why is the concept of culture so misunderstood?

Scholars have long said this is a hard word to define because it’s so abstract in it nature, but it’s realized tangibly, it’s omnipresent…it’s everything. So how do you describe everything? It’s like explaining water to a fish, it’s really hard to define, and because we don’t have good language for it, we use it colloquially, we use it sort of haphazardly.

What is an example of something in your book that addresses all of this?

I’d say the biggest theoretical takeaway from the book is the idea of “meaning making,” the act of constructing reality. The world is not objective, it’s subjective. We translate the world around us through a set of lenses that are informed by the beliefs, truths, ideologies or stories that we hold in our minds and in our hearts. The meaning we assign to everything around us is a byproduct of our cultural subscription—who we are—which is manifested in our shared way of life: the artifacts we don, the behavior that are normative, and the language we use. So the idea for practitioners, whether you’re a marketer or an activist, politician, clergy, leader, manager, etc., is to realize that what you say is not exactly what people hear. Because people are translating your messages through their cultural lenses. You have to understand how people make meanings if you are to ensure that our messages are received the way they were intended.

What is a favorite personal story, in practice, that you hope readers will learn from within this context of culture?

The Brooklyn Nets—with a focus on one of the cultural characteristics of what it means to be a Brooklynite. The brief from our client was that they wanted the Brooklyn Nets to be to Brooklyn what the Knicks are to Manhattan. We realized that these folks are the proudest group of people among the five boroughs. We decided to stoke Brooklyn pride. And we did that by borrowing a page from Edward Bernays’ propaganda theory—he was the godfather of propaganda. He said that you can bring people together by declaring an enemy of the state. And luckily for us there was an inherent enemy of the state to Brooklyn: Manhattan. So, we decided we were going to excite/exacerbate this tension between them such that Brooklynites will use the Nets as a badge of identity, a way of showing they are residents—not because of the basketball team… this brand represents their identity. In June 2012, before the team played its first game, it went from being No. 26 In merchandise sales to number four. Because Brooklynites were buying the gear to say: “Oh, I’m from Brooklyn,” which is really powerful.

What are the biggest takeaways from the book?

the biggest takeaway is that things aren’t the way they are, they are the way that we are. The better we understand that, the better we’ll be able to identify the things that influence us. Then we become better at interacting with other people. And the more equipped we’ll be to leverage these mechanisms of culture to get people to adopt behavior, and the more agency will have to navigate cultural backgrounds.

What excites you the most about your journey?

The ability to help people—for people to have these aha moments now that the language exists to describe it. On the practicing side, I want marketers to say, “Let’s stop thinking about people as machines and look at them as human beings.” And how can we contribute to the cultural characteristics of their governing operating system? How can we help them facilitate community among them? And when we do that as practitioners, not only do we help our companies, but we help people get closer to things that matter most to them.

We+Black, Wieden+Kennedy Portland’s Black employee resource group, created a moving video that commemorates the upcoming 10-year anniversary of the Black Lives Matter movement for equality and social justice.

The video begins with audio news coverage following the 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin while members of We+Black look into the camera. Activist Alicia Garza coined the phrase “Black Lives Matter” following the acquittal of Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman. Now, we see Garza and We+Black reflect on the intervening years.

“We wanted the viewers of the film to be able to feel the raw and genuine moments that we experienced while filming our stories,” says Ben Howard, art director at W+K. “To do that, we filmed in a way that created intimacy between everyone on set. The interviews felt more like conversations between friends, sharing our true thoughts on what it means to be Black and to matter in America today. We wanted to highlight the emotion and humanity of our stories by shooting beautiful portrait shots throughout the film.”

The video will run on agency social channels and its original music was scored by David Henry Jr., a W+K New York employee who creates music under the name Nukbeatz.

In addition, OOH elements will run on select trains in Portland, Ore., and highlight local Black businesses. Earlier this month, We+Black hosted an art gallery experience featuring three local Black artists from the city.

Click to enlarge images from the event:

“With a name like ‘We Still Matter,’ we really wanted the campaign to extend beyond Black History Month,” Shareina Chandler, copywriter at W+K, tells Muse. “We also wanted a campaign component that was local to the Portland Area, and out of that came ‘Black Businesses Still Matter.’ In late January and throughout February, many Black businesses get a burst in activity for Black history month, and then it’s crickets for the rest of the year. This is a way to remind people that these businesses are still here, and still worth supporting, even when it’s not trendy to do so.”