As part of its move to highlight its farmers and communicate more transparently about its supply chain and its relationships with agricultural partners, McDonald’s Austria has but growers at the heart of its Happy Meals.

McDonald’s Austria, a principal partner of Austrian agriculture in the catering sector, produced toy figures modelled on four of its partner farmers for inclusion in limited-edition Happy Meals.

The initiative, which was created in partnership with creative agency Virtue, placed the spotlight on the prime movers in the Austrian agricultural world and reflected the high regard the company holds for its suppliers. Besides the wooden toys, which are an exact miniature-scale replicas of real-life farmers, McDonald’s also produced figurines representing different regional food products (beef, eggs, milk) that come with a fitting add-on object to math the respective agricultural field.

“The team at Virtue has come up with a creative vision that provides our customers and the McDonald’s community with a playful and authentic insight into the importance and value of the company's partnership with the local farming community,” says Benedikt Böcker, marketing director McDonald’s Austria “A partnership that not only benefits us and our farmers but also to the creation of added value in the country as a whole. It is crucial that we work together to overcome this crisis.”

In addition to comprising over 40 SME franchises, McDonald’s Austria is also the local agricultural industry’s most important restaurant partner. Around 70% of its food ingredients are sourced within Austria, with that figure rising to 100% for eggs, milk, potatoes and beef.

“The campaign has been developed with those Austrians and McDonald’s customers in mind who are interested in supporting regional businesses yet are unaware of the fact that, thanks to its local franchisees and around 40,000 Austrian suppliers, McDonald’s operates much more regionally than they realise,” adds Marcus Opitz, account director at Virtue Vienna.