McDonald’s revives a pair of classic jingles for Australian and Canadian campaigns
The Big Mac song and the ‘Menu Song’ find a second life thanks to DDB Sydney and Cossette

Editor's Pick
Jingles occupy a hallowed place in McDonald’s marketing history. Now, a pair of campaigns on opposite sides of the world reach back into that rich archive for musical inspiration today.
In Australia, a DDB Sydney campaign revives the classic Big Mac song—“Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun”—created by Keith Reinhard and his team in the 1970s at Needham Harper & Steers. (Reinhard is still chairman emeritus of DDB today.)
A TV spot, directed by Revolver’s Leilani Croucher, is styled to look retro throughout, as folks from different decades struggle a bit with the song—before getting their act together.
"The launch film was shot and crafted with excruciating attention to detail, ensuring every decade was brought to life as though it had been found on a shelf in an archive,” said Matt Chandler, executive creative director at DDB Sydney. “From the wardrobe and propping to the speech patterns and performances of our talent, everything was lovingly recreated to give that innocent and infectious feeling of fun you get trying to nail the chant.”
The campaign launched March 28 with teaser out-of-home executions featuring closeups on portions of the words from the jingle.
Those ads were followed by others with the full text of the jingle and extreme closeups of the sandwich.
OMD handled media duties on the campaign.
“The challenge of introducing a new generation of Aussies to the Big Mac and the much-loved chant was something we did not take lightly,” said Samantha McLeod, marketing director for McDonald's Australia. “Australians love their Big Macs and we’re really thrilled with this campaign from our agency village—it’s McDonald’s ‘feel good marketing’ at its best and there’s a lot more exciting stuff to come, so stay tuned.”
‘Menu Song Remix’ in Canada
Meanwhile, in Canada, Cossette is bringing back the “Menu Song,” which launched in 1989 and featured a guy sing-ordering the entire McDonald’s menu at the counter in under 30 seconds—quite an impressive feat, and way more lyrics than the Big Mac jingle.
Cossette’s version, the “Menu Song Remix,” stars rapper, singer-songwriter and former McDonald’s employee Lil Yachty putting his own spin on the song.
The campaign will run independently in both English and French markets on TV, Spotify, OLV including Twitch, OOH, digital media, paid and organic social, and with merch.
It extends to in-store with an actual “Remix Menu,” based on how fans hack their favorite McDonald’s menu items. New menu items available for a limited time include the Sweet Chili Junior Chicken, Surf ’N’ Turf Burger, Chicken Cheeseburger and Apple Pie McFlurry.
“We knew for the campaign to be truly successful and resonate with our fans, we had to go beyond the usual screens and channels and do something that reflected how our fans were already hacking and customizing existing McDonald’s menu items,” said Andrew Chisholm, executive creative director at Cossette. “So we turned to social to find out what a few top faves were, and in response, created a net-new limited-time menu with remixed icons inspired by fans.”
“We thought it was the right time to revive this classic in a way that was relevant to our Gen Z audience, while at the same time allowing Gen X and older audiences hear this remix and remember something that resonated in their own formative years—which their kids and grandkids are now enjoying like it was new,” said Rebecca Smart, marketing director for brand strategy and content at McDonald’s Canada.
Credits
- Date
- Apr 05, 2024
- Client :
- McDonald's
- Client :
- McDonald's-Australia
- Agency :
- DDB-Sydney
- Chief Customer Officer :
- Chris Brown
- Marketing Director :
- Samantha McLeod
- Senior Brand Manager :
- Liz Whitbread
- Experience Optimization Manager :
- Luke Elzerman
- Brand Manager :
- Chloe Brannagan
- National Chief Creative Officer :
- Stephen de Wolf
- Executive Creative Director :
- Matt Chandler
- Senior Copywriter :
- Stephanie Allen
- Senior Art Director :
- Andrew Torrisi
- Group Managing Partner :
- Mandy Whatson
- Group Business Director :
- Adam Blaynee
- Operations Director :
- Steph Dix
- Project Manager :
- Lucy Stone
- Senior Business Manager :
- Chloe McIvor
- Executive Producer :
- Rene Shalala
- Strategy Partner :
- Katharina Wynne
- Director Social & Content Strategy :
- Katy Andrews
- Production Company :
- Revolver
- Director :
- Leilani Croucher
- Managing Director/Co-Owner :
- Michael Ritchie
- Executive Producer/Partner :
- Pip Smart
- Senior Producer :
- Serena Paull
- DOP :
- Andrew Commis
- Production Designer :
- Damien Drew
- Costume Designer :
- Sophie Fletcher
- Post Production :
- Arc Edit
- Executive Producer :
- Daniel Fry
- Producer :
- Sally Quade
- Editor :
- Elise Butt
- First Assistant Editor :
- Carly Anne Kenneally
- Second Assistant Editor :
- Harrison Carr
- Colorist :
- Edel Rafferty
- Color & Online Assistant :
- Jack Wilson-Lee
- Online Artist :
- Richard Lambert
- Online Artist/VFX Artist :
- Patrick Campbell
- Sound & Music :
- Smith & Western Sound
- Sound & Music :
- Nick West
- Sound & Music :
- Dan Higson
- Media :
- OMD
- Head of Brand :
- Emily Bosler
- Head of Strategy :
- Zoe May
- Head of Comms Planning :
- Catriona Oran Barthram
- Strategist :
- Brittany Meale
- Account Director :
- Taylor Hilditch
- Senior Account Manager :
- Anna Heslop
- PR & Influencer Relations :
- Mango
- Managing Director :
- Tabitha Fairbairn
- Senior Account Director :
- Ashleigh Vallance
- Account Director :
- Nada Duyker
- Senior Account Manager :
- Sidney Balfour
- POS :
- Akcelo
- Business Lead :
- April Tunstall
- Senior Account Director :
- Melanie Tozer
- Senior Project Manager :
- Alex Kostiouk
- CRM :
- Digitas
- Account Director :
- David Huang
- Client :
- McDonald's-Canada
- Chief Marketing Officer :
- Alyssa Buetikofer
- Director of Marketing Brand Strategy & ROD :
- Rebecca Smart
- Sr. Marketing Manager :
- Jamie Bone
- Marketing Supervisor :
- Caitlin Murphy
- Regional Marketing Manager :
- Suzanne Grondin
- Field Marketing Supervisor :
- Noémie Duchesne
- Consulting :
- Brenda Surminski
- Social Lead & Brand Manager :
- Catherine Gao
- Social & Brand Specialist :
- Nezariel Scott
- Marketing Specialist :
- Shaelyn Talusan
- Agency :
- Cossette
- VP Managing Director :
- Bryden McDonald
- Chief Creative Officer :
- Sabaa Quao
- Chief Strategy Officer :
- Sub Nijjar
- Executive Creative Director :
- Andrew Chisholm
- Creative Director :
- Matt Moore
- Creative Director :
- Russell Dodson
- French Creative Director :
- Cedric Audet
- French Copywriter :
- Clement Ginon
- French Art Director :
- Guillaume St-Hilaire
- Agency Producer :
- Lindsay Hann
- French Agency Producer :
- Lisa Houchat
- French Agency Producer :
- Marie-Claude Francoeur
- French Agency Post-producer :
- Maureen Langain
- Executive Creative Director Design :
- Jenna Anderson
- Designer :
- Luisa Bojaca
- Designer :
- Evan Kaminsky
- Digital Designer :
- Angel Chun
- Senior Art Director :
- Cass Valchuk
- Senior Copywriter :
- Brianne Collins
- Group Vice President :
- Dan Cameron
- Head of Strategy :
- Dan Cameron
- Senior Strategy Director :
- Nicole Stanhope
- Senior Strategist :
- Kat Kleon
- French Senior Strategist :
- Cleo Tellier
- French Strategist :
- Antoine Cormier
- Group Business Director :
- Gillian Craig
- Group Business Director :
- Wendy Doan
- French Client Director :
- Natalie Azoulay
- Business Director :
- Alison Still
- Business Director :
- Mike Harris
- Account Supervisor :
- Andrea King
- Account Executive :
- Santana Symeonides
- French Account Supervisor :
- Maria-Laura Laubenthal
- Content Creator :
- Brendan Samuel
- French Content Creator :
- Eva Martinez
- French Social Producer :
- Lylie Korzer
- Community Manager :
- Hayley Green
- French Community Manager :
- Farah Chaou
- Copywriter Social :
- Matina Iriotakis
- Social Content Team Lead :
- Olivia Graham
- Production Manager :
- Mark Prole
- Senior Production Manager :
- Gianna Blasutto
- Associate Producer :
- Selam Kahsay
- Motion Designer :
- Sam Perrin
- Program Manager Digital :
- Jeff Maynard
- Full Stack Developer :
- Natasha Gibe
- Digital Senior Project Manager :
- David Atkinson
- Junior Digital Content Manager :
- Evan Bowman
- Production :
- Circle Productions
- Director :
- Pete Marquis
- Partner/Executive Producer :
- Karen Tameanko
- Executive Producer :
- Laurence Payne
- Line Producer :
- Amanda Field
- Director of Photography :
- Adam Marsden
- Assistant Director :
- Sam Pecoraro
- Production Manager :
- Alan Kuipers
- Casting :
- Jigsaw Casting
- Production Designer :
- Jesson Moen
- Head Food Stylist :
- Carol Brown
- Wardrobe Stylist :
- Kate Day
- Location Manager :
- Matt Cassils
- Production :
- Endeavor
- Head of Brand Partnerships :
- Jessica Thomas
- Senior Director :
- Kelsey Gray Sherman
- Offline :
- Arcade Edit
- Editor :
- Sean Lagrange
- Assistant Editor :
- Lucas Ferriera
- Producer :
- Arlene Perez
- Executive Producer :
- Sila Soyer
- Finishing :
- The Vanity
- Colorist :
- Andrew Exworth
- VFX Artist :
- Naveen Srivastava
- VFX Artist :
- Sean Cochrane
- VFX Artist :
- Adam Silcox-Vanwyk
- Executive Producer :
- Katie Methot
- Audio :
- Beacon Street Studios
- Principal Composer :
- Andrew Feltenstein
- Principal Composer :
- Danny Dunlap
- Principal Composer :
- John Nau
- EP / Head of Production :
- Leslie DiLullo
- Producer :
- Julia Giambona
- Sound Designer & Mixer :
- Rommel Molina
- Assistant Mixer :
- Anthony Nguyen
- Executive Producer / Music Mixer :
- Kate Vadnais
- Beatmaker :
- Vlooper
- Supervisor :
- Laetitia L. Lebedeff
- Media :
- OMD
- Managing Director :
- Meredith Menkes
- Group Director of Strategy :
- Logan Lindsay
- Strategy Supervisor :
- Mikayla Smith
- PR :
- Weber Shandwick
Need a credit fix? Contact the Creativity Editors
Related work

McDonald's: ‘Only at McDonald’s’ brand platform in the UK centers fan truths around menu items

McDonald's: McDonald UK’s launches Mini Hash Browns by tracing their ancestry to the original Hash Brown

McDonald's: How McDonald’s France is welcoming Olympic visitors to Paris—in any language
