McDonald’s Ice Cream Campaign: TBWA\Paris Creative Director on Wordplay and Social-First Design

Corentin Salignat, creative director at TBWA\Paris, discusses the McDonald’s “Ice Cream” campaign, which aims to remind consumers that ice cream is available year-round, not just in summer. The campaign is built on a simple observation of human behavior: ice cream serves as both a reward and a comfort food, fitting any occasion—from celebrating a win to softening a bad moment. The creative concept hinges on wordplay, where changing or adding just one word transforms a situation into its opposite, highlighting the duality of ice cream. A key constraint was that the food had to remain the hero in every execution, requiring the same ice cream to be shown twice. Salignat notes that the idea is inherently social-first, designed to be shared and adapted on platforms like Instagram, where it can easily become a meme. The campaign's adaptability across topics and writing styles is a point of pride, with users already creating their own versions in comments. The project reflects the challenge of working for a global brand while staying culturally relevant and rethinking how to connect with contemporary communication, especially on social media.