The Angel Reese Special
McDonald’s has a long history with hoops, from the iconic Showdown Super Bowl spot to the Michael Jordan Special. But they’d never partnered with a female player, or any female athlete for that matter. We worked with Angel Reese, a cultural force on and off the WNBA court, to create the Angel Reese Special: a BBQ Bacon QPC that nodded to past McD’s hooper meals and leaned into Angel’s favorite flavors.
For launch, we recreated the iconic Showdown spot with a twist. Angel faced off against WNBA icons past, present and future for her own lunch. From Angel’s mentor, WNBA legend Lisa Leslie, to current champ Breanna Stewart, to rising LSU star Aalyah Del Rosario, this campaign was about paying homage to the generations of female athletes that haven’t gotten the spotlight they’ve always deserved.
Covered in Sports Illustrated, Hypebeast, Hypebae, Complex, Bleacher Report, People, The Today Show, Food Network, USA Today, Just Women Sports, Yahoo! Sports, Sports Business Journal, and reviewed by Review Brah.
We leaned into the 90’s aesthetic of past McD’s x hoops work across the campaign, from packaging to styling, set design, dialogue, even shooting on film.
Social
We created BTS content with Angel and her Showdown opponents (and WNBA court-side icon Latto) to give fans even more access to their favorite sport.
Director: Anthony Jamari Thomas
Photographer: Conor Cunningham
Editor: Mah Ferraz
Color: Kaitlyn Battistelli
Music: Beta Petrol
Design: Bobby Engvall, James Hughes, Laura Bailey
Social Director & Photographer: Alex Kramer
CD: Eric Helin
Creative: Jen Hubbard, Laura Bailey, Nikki Vandervelde, Mikayla Dumas
Producer: Cris Flores, Sami Scholl