McDonald's Malaysia repainted a zebra crossing as fries pointing into its store

McDonald's Malaysia wanted to mark 40 years since its first Malaysian restaurant opened in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur's 'Golden Triangle'. The dumb approach would have been a birthday billboard or discount coupons.

Instead, with Leo Burnett Malaysia and approval from Kuala Lumpur City Hall, the brand hand-painted the zebra crossing directly in front of that first restaurant so its stripes became giant golden fries. The fries literally lead pedestrians from the street into the store: the city's own wayfinding infrastructure became the brand's signage.

The conceptualisation, official approval and rollout took seven months. The installation doubled as a genuinely functional crosswalk while becoming an 'insta-worthy' landmark that generated organic foot traffic and social coverage, reinvigorating the entire Bukit Bintang area.

The crosswalk became a semi-permanent landmark rather than a campaign that ends, and seeded a franchise of fries-led stunts for the market: a 2025 Golden Triangle DOOH takeover and the 'Fans Fries Meal', which won the Golden Kancil at the Kancil Awards 2025.

Make the sidewalk itself the ad — and the directions

It used infrastructure the city had already built and pedestrians already used, so the media cost was paint and patience, not billboards.

The fries visual needs no logo or copy — the brand asset survived being stripped to stripes.

It functions simultaneously as wayfinding, photo spot and street furniture, so it kept working after the campaign ended.

Seven months of city approvals turned a stunt into sanctioned, semi-permanent public art competitors cannot copy overnight.

The best outdoor medium may be the ground customers already walk on. A brand asset strong enough to survive cropping can turn civic infrastructure into owned media — if the city approves.

The crosswalk remains a photographed Kuala Lumpur landmark. McDonald's Malaysia kept building on the fries-as-infrastructure idea, culminating in the 'Fans Fries Meal' that won the Golden Kancil in 2025, and the market's agency Leo Burnett KL took Agency of the Year at the Kancil Awards 2024.