Find the role for digital.
Helped shape a kitchen role-play concept that turned McDonald's own brand world into an interactive experience.
Selected work / Lil McDonald's Happy Meal
A little McDonald's.
A big imagination.
Turning the familiar McDonald's kitchen into a world of role-play—where kids could join the crew and build Happy Meal orders of their own.
Watch the experience
- Brand
- McDonald's Happy Meal
- My role
- Associate Creative Director
The Marketing Store - My focus
- Digital concept & design direction
Creative team leadership - The experience
- Character-led kitchen game
Happy Meal order assembly
The opportunity
The brand itself
became the play.
McDonald's own world became the invitation to play.
One of our team's early Happy Meal experiences without an entertainment co-brand, the project began as “Shrunk McD” before evolving into Lil McDonald's. The toys celebrated familiar McDonald's objects. Our digital concept let children step inside that miniature world and experience being part of the crew.
The idea was a busy, playful kitchen: choose a character, move between stations, and fill Happy Meal boxes. Familiar brand details became things children could do.
My contribution
Shape the idea.
Connect the team.
I led the digital concepting team, directed the design, and approved the concept designs before they moved forward.
Give the idea a cast.
I guided designer Noah Zaroff as we developed early avatars and kitchen explorations, setting a visual direction for the execution team.
Keep the whole experience aligned.
Collaborated across departments as the concept moved forward, connecting the digital idea with the broader campaign and supporting the handoff to the execution team.
01 / Early concept
A small kitchen.
A world to step into.
Our first explorations made the idea visible: a recognizable kitchen, a crew of original characters, and a clear role for the player.
02 / Character evolution
A crew with
more personality.
Original avatars gave children a way into the game.
We began by building our own crew in the concepting phase. The execution team developed that foundation into a more expressive, diverse cast, bringing the characters to life through refined 3D design and animation.
03 / The digital experience
Choose your crew.
Make it a Happy Meal.
An arrival that sets the scene. A kitchen to explore. A celebration that brings the experience full circle.
An invitation to step inside.
The introduction moves from the familiar restaurant into a miniature kitchen, where the crew is getting ready to play.
Introduction demo / 13 secondsRead the order. Work the kitchen.
Players move between food, drink, and toy stations to assemble the requested Happy Meal. The order gives every trip across the kitchen a purpose.
Gameplay demo / 2 minutes 18 secondsEnd on a shared moment.
The crew's closing celebration gives the game a friendly finish and keeps the characters at the heart of the experience.
Closing demo / 13 secondsExecution-team development demos. Shown here as work in progress ahead of development and QA.
What this work shows
Make the brand familiar.
Make the experience new.
The opportunity was to see the play already inside McDonald's own world. My role connected that idea to a digital experience, gave our team a creative direction, and helped carry the concept across disciplines.
Lil McDonald's Happy Meal launched in the U.S. in July 2025, with the digital kitchen game connected to the campaign through a QR code on the box. Read the campaign story from tms ↗
Agency: The Marketing Store / tmsCreative direction & digital concept development: Heather HarshmanConcept design: Noah Zaroff3D design & animation: execution teamToy design: Boxer Brand DesignBrand assets: McDonald's