Products of Change member, The Marketing Store (tms) has hailed its recent collaborative efforts with McDonald’s and the German toy maker, Playmobil as a “one of a kind” moment that ‘proved the impossible possible’ by bringing 95% plant-based plastic Wiltopia toys to Happy Meals around the world.
In the fast-food restaurant’s boldest move yet towards its pledge to use less virgin fossil fuel-based plastic and introduce more sustainable materials into its packaging and toys by 2025, McDonald’s newest Happy Meal dives head first into Playmobil’s Wiltopia portfolio to promote stewardship for the planet’s biodiversity among children and families.
Moving from fossil-fuel-based plastic, toys featured in the promotion will instead be made from at least 95% plant-based plastic derived from sugarcane. Running across various territories around the world over the course of 2024, the campaign taps directly into Playmobil Wiltopia’s focus on wildlife protection, enabling kids to get up close to the animals via an accompanying digital game.
In recent years, the Playmobil brand – owned by parent company Horst BrandStätter – has built a reputation for pioneering in sustainable development within the international toy sector. In fact, the original Playmobil Wiltopia toys are already made from an average of 80% post-consumer waste recycled materials.
However, to take the sustainability of the range to the next level for the McDonald’s promotion required the special attention of campaign partner The Marketing Store and its Future Lab innovation centre. through Future Lab, both McDonald’s and Playmobil were able to source materials deemed to be more sustainable. It’s not the first time The Marketing Store has supported McDonald’s along its pathway to improved sustainability, and since it’s partnership with the brand commenced in 2018 pms has helped McDonald’s reduce its reliance on virgin fossil fuel-based plastic within its Happy Meal toys by 24.4% globally. The team now continues its work sourcing renewable, recycled, and certified materials.
“This kind of partnership with Playmobil Wiltopia is one of a kind. This is a true representation of how two brands coming together can leverage a true sustainability commitment,” said Juliette Aroun, senior account director at The Marketing Store. “The team at tms has achieved what we thought was impossible in such a little time frame, experimenting with a more sustainable material in a way that had never been done on such a programme before.”
For its digital gaming component, The Marketing Store designed the experience to be “educational yet enticing” enabling users to “dive into the wild and discover animals in their natural habitats to become wildlife photographers.
The launch of the campaign follows what has been a two-year search to source and introduce more sustainable materials to its Happy Meal toy ranges.
“Playmobil stands for a sustainable play experience. We are pursuing various approaches to continuously increase the proportion of non-primarily fossil-based plastics in the entire range and we are increasingly using plant-based materials,” said Playmobil’s ceo, Bahri Kurter.
Playmobil’s long term goal is to make all business models circular to establish a material cycle that is as closed as possible.
“In Germany in particular, Playmobil is a name associated with quality and great educational play value. This fits perfectly with the high standards we set for our Happy Meal toys,” said Tomasz Debowski, chief marketing officer at McDonald’s Germany.
“We are so proud of the sugar cane based raw material that we are using for the first time, because it is another important step on the way to a better McDonald’s.”
Playmobil’s parent brand, Horst Brandstätter Group has previously laid out some ambitious sustainability targets that includes reaching climate neutrality by 2027 as well as a series of projects and initiatives to be part of closed loop material cycles.
The McDonald’s partnership follows a major overhaul of the Playmobil toddler portfolio which switched from fossil- to p[lant-based materials at the start of 2024.
