McDonald's Advertising Campaign - Term Paper Example

The current Mcdonald’s advertising campaign is referred to as the ‘I’m lovin’ it’ campaign. This campaign extends to international borders and has been implemented in virtually every advertising medium available within the contemporary media climate. While many might have expected this advertising campaign to be developed by an American firm, in actuality it was constructed by an advertising agency located in Unterhaching, Germany referred to as DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc.

Rather than debuting the campaign in the United States, the ‘I’m lovin’ it’ campaign was debuted in Australia and that later throughout parts of Europe and ultimately the United States. It seems in structuring the campaign in such a way McDonald’s was able to in a sense test out their advertising and fine-tune its various elements before debuting it in the larger Western markets. This strategy has a number of beneficial elements, namely that despite pre-debut polling and surveys, the actual reception of the marketing campaign is not entirely discernable until after it is received within the public context; as a result numerous logistical and thematic errors can be worked out before it ultimately hits the most pivotal Western market.

When it finally did debut in the USA on June 29, 2003 it did so with a large amount of fanfare. During its debut the campaign slogan was accompanied by the music of Tom Batoy and Franco Tortora (Mona Davis Music) and vocals by Justin Timberlake. In including such a large name (indeed, Justin Timberlake was at the top of the pop culture world at the time of this campaign) allowed McDonalds to significantly establish their new message and distinguish it from past advertising incarnations (Dicker 2010).

In these regards, the debut functions as more than just a means of drawing significant attention to the product (which is one of the primary concerns), but it also functions to draw attention to the significant shift in tone and message from previous McDonald’s campaigns. This is important as it indicates that the campaign often does not simply signify a renewed approach to promotion, but oftentimes represents a philosophical shift in the nature of nature of the company’s vision. As advertising campaigns are implemented they oftentimes have been demonstrated to make subtle shifts within their production mechanisms.

The McDonald’s ‘I’m Lovin It’ campaign is ne exception in these regards. Despite debuting with one set slogan and approach to promotion as the campaign progressed new forms of presentation were included; for instance, in 2007 a public casting call was issued which resulted in nearly 15,000 applicants (‘The Latest from McDonald’s’). From this pool twenty-four were selected and integrated into the advertising campaign. These individuals’ images and themes of inspiration were implemented on McDonald’s products throughout the world.

This last method was a highly effective means of altering the campaign through becoming more directly involved in the customer’s perspective. Rather than simply relying on ad executives to determine what constitutes effective promotion, allowing actual customers to become involved functions to create a sort of raw and direct appeal to the audience. This method went beyond traditional television and print advertising, truly