Effie Special: Turning Litter Into Loyalty | Inside the McDonald's Nordics Marketing Factory
In this special episode of Marketing Factories, released to mark the opening of Effie Awards Europe 2026 entries, REBORRN partner Dafni Prosalika welcomes Staffan Ekstam, Nordic Marketing and Brand Strategy Director at Food Folk Sverige AB (McDonald's Sverige), and Petter Dixelius, Creative Director and Partner at NORD DDB STHLM.
Back in December 2025, on the day following the Effie Awards Europe ceremony, we recorded in Brussels a special episode at EACA's offices (European Association of Communications Agencies), about one of the most talked about campaigns of the 2025 edition: McDonald's Nordics "Deal with the Trash".
Staffan and Petter go inside one of the world's most recognised brands and the twenty-year agency partnership behind some of its most effective work. The conversation covers how global strategy actually lands in four Nordic markets, what it takes to turn a brand liability into an award-winning campaign, and why the best idea in the room sometimes has to wait five years before it's ready.
- 01:44 – A Symbol That Needs No Words There are only a handful of them in the world. Dafni opens with one, and sets up exactly why this conversation matters.- 02:54 – The Idea That Had to Wait Petter on a creative idea that sat in the room for nearly five years because the world wasn't ready for it yet.
- 04:12 – What Chicago Sets and What It Doesn't Staffan breaks down the real relationship between global strategy and Nordic creative freedom. There is more flexibility than most people assume with one non-negotiable exception.
- 10:08 – When the Brand Becomes Part of the Solution How a well-documented problem with McDonald's in the Nordics became the foundation of a campaign that rewarded people for solving it.
- 13:41 – The Difference Between an Insight and a Fan TruthDafni asks Staffan and Petter about what McDonald's global CMO Morgan Flatley calls "Fan Truths" and why a truth that only resonates with two people can still be exactly right.
- 19:05 – Who Belongs in the Room From Day One The moment Staffan and Petter changed who was present at the brief. A small process shift with a significant creative consequence.
- 43:43 – The Hardest Thing About Running Marketing at Scale Staffan names the capability he looks for most in his team. It sounds straightforward, but almost nobody does it well.
- 45:11 – The Acronym That Stumped Him A story from Petter's first weeks working on McDonald's that captures everything about what it actually takes to understand a client's business.
- 53:11 – Why McDonald's CMO Sits Closest to the CFOThe data says most CFOs don't believe marketing drives results. Staffan on why that gap looks different from inside McDonald's.
- 59:53 – What Twenty Years Feels Like From the InsideStaffan and Petter on the thing that long partnerships build that no brief can ever replicate and why it shows up most when the work is hardest.
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