McDonald's capitalizes on Olympics fever
REVIEW | New ad offers two visions of what it means to be victorious
McDonald's is revving up an advertising campaign that is intended to whet our appetite for the fast-approaching Beijing Summer Olympics.
If a new spot called "Victory" from DDB/Chicago that has begun to air during the NBA Finals is an indication of what's to come in McDonald's' cavalcade of Olympic-themed work, we say "hurray!" Because, if nothing else, "Victory" suggests the fast-food behemoth is finally going back to its roots as an advertiser that excelled at storytelling. And in that long-ago golden age, no ad shop excelled at telling stories for McDonald's better than DDB.
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In "Victory," we are taken to a soccer match between two teams of very fresh-faced young boys. We arrive at the scene just as the team in green jerseys has clearly emerged the victor in what appears to be a very hard-fought championship match. As young boys are wont to do, the winners are being rather obnoxious and gloating over their victory as the losers look on with hugely dejected expressions.
But then something unexpected happens. A big delivery of McDonald's Happy Meals arrives for the losers, who enjoy their meals to no end. The putative victors start to gaze longingly at the losers, who suddenly don't seem such losers after all.
DDB Group Creative Director Bill Cimino and his team have managed to tell this sweetly simple tale entirely in terms of extraordinarily well-realized visuals sets to a rather jazzy piece of music called "A Minha Menina," written by Ben Jorge and recorded by the Brazilian band Os Mutantes, said to be the Beatles of their day in Brazil back in the late 1960s. It's probably not what we would have chosen for a musical accompaniment, but it no doubt will appeal to adolescent and young adult demos around the world.
And without any voiceover ad copy to worry about translating, McDonald's obviously will be able to air this spot internationally, which helps underscore the point that the Olympics are truly one of the greatest global sporting events there is.
In its relatively small, but effective way, "Victory" pays tribute to that enduring -- and global -- Olympic spirit, even if some of the young soccer players portrayed in this commercial still have much to learn about all it encompasses.
First came the series of amusing commercials/riffs on how many people it takes to screw in a light bulb. Now ComEd and its ad agency Leo Burnett/Chicago have literally taken their ongoing message about energy-efficient light bulbs to the streets in a rather surprising fashion.
On Wednesday, ComEd and Burnett installed a collection of eye-catching topiary shaped like the increasingly familiar compact spiral fluorescent bulbs in garden beds along well-trafficked North Michigan Avenue. Media services shop Starcom/ Chicago reportedly negotiated the topiary placement deal with the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association.
The topiary are part of a larger ComEd television, print, outdoor and radio campaign with the theme line "Go Green. Save Green." The newly installed topiary are meant to be educational as well as decorative. Passersby will find informational plaques planted amid the topiary that talk about the virtues of energy-efficient bulbs. Burnett has had fun with copy on the signage. The name the agency has given to the particular topiary on display is "compactus fluorescent illuminus bulbus." To give the green, growing installations even more impact at night, the topiary will be lit by -- you guessed right -- energy-efficient lighting.
Look for similar installations later this month at the Lincoln Park Zoo and in Rockford's Sinnissippi Park.