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McDonald's:
Box of joy.

The red colour McDonald’s Happy Meal Box has been a symbol of happiness and joy for children across the world. While the red box is iconic to Happy Meal, we noticed a problem. The life of the box remained very short. In most cases, only until the child left the store. We wanted the box to last longer. This would save all the paper that was going to waste. We realized that with a little change the box could live beyond the store. 


‘Fundays’ is a monthly event at select McDonald’s outlets that allows kids to participate in art and craft activities. On these days, McDonald’s sees the maximum turnout of kids and therefore the maximum sale of the Happy Meal boxes. We leveraged the ‘Fundays’ property to launch Happy Meal ‘Box of Joy’. Retaining the shape, size and colour, we decided to redesign the Happy Meal box. We made a few changes to the inside of the box and used printing, perforations and folding instructions to make the box interesting and exciting. All that the kids had to do was to open the box, follow simple instructions and the box would turn into a toy. 


We created 12 different designs over a period of six Fundays across 6 months. The designs varied from being entertaining toys like pandas and parrots to useful objects like aquariums and projectors. All this without losing the iconic shape of the Happy Meal box.


Collectable series urged kids to collect many boxes. Soon the otherwise redundant box found a place on kid’s table, shelf, room and their hearts. This initiative apart from spreading smiles also took a step towards conserving the environment by reusing paper and teaching kids the value of reusing resources. The ‘Box of Joy’ series of Happy Meal boxes taught kids craft and art, saved paper and created a memorable experience.

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