The second phase of McDonald’s campaign, The Original Mouthful, and its brainworm chant, has been launched by DDB Sydney, adam&eveDDB & OMD. And an Australian-first AI challenge, in partnership with Snapchat, has begun.
At the beginning of this year, the Big Mac had a bit of a problem. It was invented in 1967. It was now in competition with a lot of new big things. To be fair, that “problem” needs to be put into context. There are still 1.3 billion Big Macs bought annually. But McDonald’s wanted to shore up the power of its best-seller.
While untangling the problem, research offered DDB Australia a gift – a chant: two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. A surprising – and pleasing – majority of people remembered the chant, that had run in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s.
The chant answered two of the most important elements the agency wanted its campaign to have – Gen Z’s nostalgia trend and kidulting. The agency wanted the campaign to answer Gen Z’s craving for the simplicity of the past and the joyfulness of being playful. So it began to have fun with it.
The campaign, The Original Mouthful, began to take form.
OOH teasers ran first. Bits of the chant shouted from large-format billboards, hinting that something might be coming from Big Mac. Then an unscripted radio ad ran for a week, essentially a voiceover artist’s worst day ever, as he tried to perfect the chant. After that a TVC mirrored the original ‘70s commercial, detailed by Revolver director, Leilani Croucher, all the way down to original furniture and original packaging. For the former, the furniture maker was brought out of retirement to recreate his products; for the latter, a collector was found in the US who allowed his precious packs to be brought to Australia to be duplicated.
They got attention. Comments flew across social media, many of them recalling the competition that went with the original campaign. (People always remember the freebies.) In past promotions being able to recite the chant at a McDonald’s in less than 4 seconds won a free Coke and fries. (This was erroneously remembered, pretty much universally and possibly wishfully as a free Big Mac.) These memories were serendipity and DDB seized the moment. It formed a partnership with Snapchat, with its unique live camera functionality. Snapchat used machine learning to train voice recognition for the chant and the second phase of the campaign began.
Big Mac fans can test their chanting skills, with rewards on offer for correct renditions of the chant within four seconds. A voucher code for a small Fries and Coke.
Unlike 1987, where fans were required to go in-store to compete, DDB Sydney, adam&eveDDB and OMD partnered with Snapchat to build an Australian-first lens, allowing Snapchat-ers to undertake the chant challenge and win a MyMacca’s voucher code.
McDonald’s marketing director, Samantha McLeod, stated, “We have already had such an incredible response to the first phase of our Big Mac campaign with super fans already reciting the chant they remember so well and younger generations now bringing new life to the chant as well. The next promotional phase of the campaign is set to challenge all Big Mac lovers – from the 80s right through to today – to recite the famous chant in a fun and engaging way. We can’t wait to see fans put themselves to the test on social media and see who meets the challenge.”
DDB Sydney executive creative director, Matt Chandler, added, “The best part of the Big Mac chant campaign we grew up with was always the challenge to beat the clock and win yourself free Macca’s. You can’t bring back the chant without bringing back the promo. We had a unique opportunity to take this iconic jingle – a thing that went viral before there was even an internet to go viral on – and hand it over to Macca’s fans online. It’s going to be fun to watch the nation take on The Original Mouthful in this new and innovative way.”
To encourage participation among fans old and new, the Big Mac Chant Challenge will be everywhere. Aussie celebs took on the 4-second challenge in the jungle on Network 10’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Australia; Karl and Sarah will tackle the tongue-twister on the Nine Network’s Today show; and clubs from the NRL and AFL will go head-to-head to claim being the fastest ro recite the chant.
The TV commercial and online video will promote the challenge with authentically crafted and decade-specific spots. In addition, fans’ socials feeds will be flooded with prompts, attempts, fumbles and more. And fans will be celebrated in reactive digital out-of-home to fuel the ongoing conversation and competition as it unfolds.
Note the attention to era-related detail:
To ensure the campaign is inclusive for everyone to join in on the fun, DDB Sydney, adam&eveDDB and OMD also worked closely with disability consulting firm Get Skilled Access (GSA) to create an accessible way for people with varying types of access needs.
Here’s where the campaign began:
Credits:
Client: McDonald’s Australia
Chris Brown – Chief Customer Officer
Samantha McLeod – Marketing Director
Liz Whitbread – Senior Brand Manager
Luke Elzerman – Experience Optimisation Manager
Chloe Brannagan – Brand Manager
Creative Agency: DDB Sydney
Stephen de Wolf – National Chief Creative Officer
Matt Chandler – Executive Creative Director
Cam Hoelter – Group Creative Partner
Stephanie Allen – Senior Copywriter
Andrew Torrisi – Senior Art Director
Paul Jansen – Senior Designer
Sophie Hackett – Junior Art Director (Social)
Amy Morrison – Junior Copywriter (Social)
Mandy Whatson – Group Managing Partner
Adam Blaynee – Group Business Director
Chloe McIvor – Senior Business Manager
Rene Shalala – Executive Producer
Jess Taylor – Producer
Katharina Wynne – Strategy Partner
Katy Andrews – Director Social and Content Strategy
Creative Agency: adam&eveDDB London
Richard Brim – Chief Creative Officer
Sarah Todd – Chief Growth & Integration Officer
Martin Beverley – Chief Strategy Officer
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
Colourist – Edel Rafferty
Online Artist – Richard Lambert
Online Artist & VFX – Patrick Campbell
Sound & Music: Smith & Western Sound
Nick West & Dan Higson
Media: OMD
Emily Bosler – Head of McDonald’s
Zoe May – Head of Strategy
Catriona Oran Barthram – Head of Comms Planning
Hattie Dinger – Director, Entertainment Partnerships
Taylor Hilditch – Account Director
Anna Heslop – Senior Account Manager
Matt Wallace – Senior Manager, Sport Partnerships
Christian Agliozzo – Manager, Sport Partnerships
Platform: Snapchat
Dan King – Senior Client Partner
Bethany Rao-Davies – Senior Account Manager
Haran Ramachandran – Head of Creative Strategy, APAC
Claus Stangl – Senior Creative Strategist
Chris Lewis – Senior Creative Producer
PR & Influencer: Mango
Tabitha Fairbairn – Managing Director
Ashleigh Vallance – Senior Account Director
Nada Duyker – Account Director
Sidney Balfour – Senior Account Manager
MyMacca’s app & POS: Akcelo
April Tunstall – Business Lead
Melanie Tozer – Senior Account Director
Alex Kostiouk – Senior Project Manager
CRM: Digitas David Huang – Account Director
