McDonald’s reported its first quarterly loss for the final quarter of 2002. As the company tried to revive sales, it asked its advertising agencies to develop a new global direction. The result was “I’m Lovin’ It,” a common theme that local markets could adapt.
Fourteen agencies, one German phrase
McDonald’s invited 14 major advertising agencies from around the world to pitch. The idea it liked best came not from its U.S. agencies but from Heye & Partner, a longtime McDonald’s agency based in Unterhaching, near Munich, and part of the global DDB network.
The German line was “ich liebe es,” roughly “I love it.” McDonald’s used “I’m lovin’ it” in English. Its June announcement said the theme would be a common framework for local advertising, rather than a single commercial reproduced unchanged everywhere.
The jingle
A slogan that would run in many languages needed a sound that worked everywhere. McDonald’s took the English line to a music production firm, Mona Davis Music, where Tom Batoy and Franco Tortora created the short “ba da ba ba ba” hook that ended every ad.
The longer song version involved the Neptunes, including Pharrell Williams, and Timberlake’s vocals. Music reporter Pitchfork found that a version had leaked to radio and the internet by August 2003. McDonald’s publicly announced its Timberlake partnership on September 2, when the campaign launched in Munich. The company included his vocals in several of the launch commercials.
Years later, rapper Pusha T claimed a role in creating the jingle. His group Clipse supplied vocals to U.S. spots, as McDonald’s own launch announcement confirms. Batoy and Tortora disputed the claim that Pusha T wrote the five-note hook in interviews with Pitchfork. The song, ad vocals and short jingle have separate contributions that should not be credited to one person.
A global launch
“I’m Lovin’ It” was McDonald’s first global advertising campaign. The company announced the theme at its Chicago marketing conference on June 11, 2003. Its first commercials aired in Germany on September 2; the U.S. launch followed on September 29. McDonald’s said the opening ads were filmed in several countries and languages. The U.S. version was a multi-agency effort, with commercials by Heye & Partner and DDB Chicago helping bring the work to its final form.
The U.S. campaign included spots for families, fries and young adults. McDonald’s also described in-restaurant materials and local promotions using the same theme, extending it beyond television advertising.
Why it lasted
- It was short and portable. Three words and five notes work in any language and any format, from TV to radio to a drive-through sign.
- It sounded like the customer. The first-person slang made the brand sound relaxed rather than corporate.
- It used pop music. Timberlake’s vocals appeared in the launch ads, and an earlier version of the song had circulated before the public partnership announcement.
- McDonald’s stuck with it. Most slogans are replaced within a few years. McDonald’s has kept this one since 2003, and consistency turned the jingle into a signature.
Legacy
McDonald’s had used many slogans before, from “You deserve a break today” onward. “I’m Lovin’ It” has outlasted them all and is one of the longest-running slogans in fast food. For a brand that started the campaign in crisis, the five-note sound became as recognizable as the Golden Arches.