McDonald’s revives a pair of classic jingles for Australian and Canadian campaigns

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.

McDonald’s revives a pair of classic jingles for Australian and Canadian campaigns

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