Birmingham-based marketing agency Core helped global food giant McDonald’s pick up a top industry award for its latest project.

Core was appointed by the fast food company to project manage a bespoke exhibition stand for the British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC) Conference and Showcase.

More than 150 companies exhibited at the event, which was held at the ACC Liverpool over three days. Although it was the first time McDonald’s had ever taken a stand of this size at the event, it was awarded top honours for ‘Best Retail Exhibition,’ beating off tough competition from other high street names such as Tesco, Subway and Sainsbury’s.

Core was given a six week lead-in to the conference, during which time its events team worked closely with McDonald’s in-house development department, external contractors and suppliers to ensure the 36 sq metre stand had maximum impact and made full use of the space allocated.

Core project manager Clare Nester said: “McDonald’s is one of the world’s most recognisable brands, and when the Core team first approached this particular project we made it our mission to create a stand that would make delegates look twice at McDonald’s, whilst also remaining true to the brand.

“We therefore stripped down the conventional shell scheme stand to its most simple form in order to create a unique stand that promoted McDonald’s status as an iconic brand.

“We used furniture and signage from McDonald’s latest contemporary restaurant fit-outs, so it was familiar and easily recognisable to those passing the stand.”