McDonald's is on the attack to regain some 'cool' with a major ad campaign and Justin Timberlake in tow, writes Shane Hegarty.
If you saw the new McDonald's television ads this week - and they were hard to avoid - it may have taken you a moment to figure out what they were for.
The food itself makes only a cameo appearances. Instead, the ads feature quick vignettes of young, extreme-sport types enjoying life in a semi-anarchic manner. The sort of people, in fact, you would normally expect to find protesting outside one of its restaurants.
Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake raps the tuneless jingle, repeating "I'm lovin' it", while the lyrics make oblique references to the company's recent woes. "Sometimes we have mishaps/ You just overcome it, adapt to setbacks."
McDonald's has had more than mere "mishaps". Last year, one of the world's most recognised brands posted its first loss in history. Once famous for opening restaurants - one every two hours at one point - it is now closing hundreds of them. It is no longer the world's number one fast food chain in the US (that honour now belongs to sandwich chain Subway). Its rigid menus and philosophy saw it caught out by the twin forces of healthy eating and anti-globalisation. Where McDonald's was once seen as fun, colourful, disposable, it was suddenly branded as sinister and manipulative. It was caught unprepared for the public mood swing and, as a consequence, the 21st century has been as bad to it as the 20th century was good.
This year, McDonald's turned to a small German advertising agency to overhaul its marketing and the result is a campaign in which the same ads were thrust upon 120 countries simultaneously. It is the company's first global campaign, and it is hoping to replicate the success of Pepsi and Coca-Cola who have been running similar global campaigns for years. If the jingle isn't in your head yet, it will be soon: Timberlake is set to release it as a single.
The McDonald's campaign has also signed hip-hop stars The Clipse and The Neptunes and, because there has always been something slightly desperate about multinational corporations adopting hip-hop credentials, some commentators have mauled the campaign. One described the ads as "a bizarre conglomeration of fake hip-hopitude, Pollyanna depictions of young people, jumpy editing, insipid philosophy and an extremely dubious selling proposition".
It is, according to Will Cooke, director of operations at McDonald's Restaurants of Ireland, about making McDonald's "contemporary and relevant" to young adults as well as about focusing the brand. "If you look at McDonalds' right across the world, the concept has stayed the same but there is a diversification of brand identity between each country. The thinking is that we're a global company, so we should be a global brand, too." While it still wants to attract couples with young children, these ads are aimed at 16-24 year-olds, betraying the brand's fear that it has lost its "cool".
"There's no hiding behind who we are and where we're at," says Cooke. "The world changes and attitudes change." McDonald's still clings to the title of most popular sit-down restaurant and, adds Cooke, "as number one, you are going to get attacked. Sometimes it is for the right reasons and sometimes for the wrong ones."
"I think their new ad campaign is quite clever," says Eric Schlosser, whos best-selling exposé Fast Food Nation put many off Big Macs for life. "Justin Timberlake is in many ways the musical equivalent of a Happy Meal. But no matter how trendy the ads seem, it's still old wine in a new bottle." The campaign has followed McDonald's recent attempts to react to changing tastes, such as adding salads and fresh fruit to its menu, opening cappuccino-conscious McCafés, and using Paul Newman sauces, from which all profits go to charity. They have stemmed the company's decline.
"The salads do seem to have raised sales in the US," acknowledges Schlosser. "And I think it's great that Paul Newman's company is being promoted. However, the fundamental problems for the McDonald's brand remain unchanged. In the US, their core menu items - hamburger, fries and a coke - are increasingly viewed as unhealthy as the obesity epidemic spreads." Worse, McDonald's launches its global campaign at a time when the idea of the all-American meal turns stomachs for two reasons. According to Schlosser, "Overseas, McDonald's has to contend not only with its food being viewed as a potential health risk, but with the rising anti-Americanism that views Ronald McDonald as a symbol of US imperialism."
On many of the anti-McDonald's websites (one claiming to be run by some of its staff) the company's world famous mascot, Ronald McDonald, is treated as particularly loathsome and often mocked as a paedophile-type figure. While he has been absent from many recent ad campaigns, McDonald's insist that he is still important to their image, and that he will feature in the ads broadcast in Ireland. "Ronald McDonald has not been pushed aside," insists Cooke. "He is back to the forefront of the I'm Lovin' It campaign."
Meanwhile, McDonald's staff have been treated to morale-boosting "I'm Lovin' It crew rallies" in which Justin Timberlake delivers a video message and, in some cases, Ronald McDonald raps for the audience. Recently, 600 of McDonald's Irish staff converged on Mullingar for their event.
Some reports estimate the cost of the new campaign at $1.5 billion, with $6 million of that used to secure the services of Justin Timberlake. Can it work? "I think the best days of the Golden Arches are in the past," says Eric Schlosser. Maybe, but for now, at least, the Big Mac is biting back.