McDonald’s teams up with The X Factor to produce song about love and lamb burgers
“I had my eyes on a prize, a Maccas lamb burger and a fries on the side.”
McDonald’s has taken a bold step into branded entertainment, producing a music video about its new lamb burger.
The song uses former X Factor finalist Johnny Ruffo and the current series’ contestants with a song called ‘Getting Serious’.
The dance-based R’n’B tune aired last night in a commercial break for The X Factor in a 60-second version, with an extended mix to be used through an integrated campaign by OMD.
The campaign comes a year after McDonald’s launched paid-for documentary McDonalds Gets Grilled by OMD, UM and production company WTFN, which aired on prime time on Seven, and the return of series It’s A Knockout, which aired over last year’s summer ratings break on Ten.
The song has been supported with behind-the-scenes footage as well as a competition on The X Factor website asking fans to vote for their favourite lyrics to be used in the song.
Lyrics include: “I want to hold you with both hands and put my lips on you,” and “I had my eyes on a prize. A Maccas lamb burger and a fries on the side.”
Joanne Liddel, head of OMD Fuse Sydney, who manages McDonald’s sponsorships and integration, said: “Like The X Factor show, McDonald’s has a broad family appeal and is not afraid to have fun! This is exactly what we’ve done with Johnny’s ‘Gettin’ Serious’ song, it’s tongue-in-cheek, high energy with a high production music video that we believe will entertain The X Factor audience.”
“Following the unprecedented success of last year’s ‘Back by Popular Demand’ campaign, it was vital we evolved McDonald’s established sponsorship of the show with engaging and consumer focused content,” she said.
The McDonald’s YouTube channel includes behind the scenes footage.
Credits:
Project Management: OMD Fuse
Content Production: Projekta
The X Factor Production: FremantleMedia Australia
Licensor: FremantleMedia Enterprises
Programmer: The Seven Network
I completely object to the Americanisation of my hamburger chain commercials…
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Love the behind the scenes video and Johnny Ruffo’s “contributions” to the production process. Pearls of wisdom such as: “If it’s going to be on a boat, it’s got to be outdoors” are pure gold. Thanks Johhny – what would the crew have done without you?
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I hope someone had seen this before and just liked the sense of irony…
T-Pain! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU
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I have to admit, I was horrified when I saw the song aired last night. And following the tweets using #xfactorau – many people felt the same way.
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Just because you can does not mean you should. There’s a line and unfortunately the X Factor kids were pushed to cross it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg
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I wanna hold you with both hands – False advertising perhaps?
That is absurd.
I wonder if people will think it’s a love song – not about a burger…
The clip looks serious but the visuals look like ‘I’m on a boat’ by lonely Island – Weird.
I understand the idea of Branded Entertainment – It’s a Knockout used to be a cool show before McDonalds butchered it.
A song about a lamb burger, well that’s literally butchered.
Fin.
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trying to emulate The Lonely Island except they forgot to add any humour…
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By how bad this is.
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love it!
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Sounds a lot like this old SNL classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg
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Sadly “not-impressed” I don’t think they were trying to emulate Lonely Island, they’ve just tripped over it by mistake…
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it was rhetorical. jerk.
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So bad it’s almost good. Na, just kidding.
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Didn’t know Maccas had sail-through service on Miami Harbour? What are they selling again? NJK, that is gold!
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Well I won’t be buying any of that Maccas processed stuff. Funny how they promote the idea of wealth, health and fame whereas in reality the highly processed food will give you long term bad health, waste your money and make you just another sheeple. Better eating wholesome fruit, vegetables and lean meat without all the Maccas sugar, salt, fat and chemical additives. Be honest Maccas you only care about your profits over your customers health:-)
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@Forest Hi, Thanks for the education. Until now I thought you could eat some fast food in moderation combined with a normal diet. Now I know it’s one or the other.
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Yoghurt brand Yeo Valley did very much the same thing with BBH in London last year.
This campaign was a success because it was legitimately funny and appropriate for a brand positioning itself as quirky. It was also true to the overall brand position. . http://www.adforum.com/agency/.....leases/643
The Aussie Maccas attempt just seems to have fallen short on both counts. The song wasn’t as witty and didn’t have a quirky angle that was relevant to their brand positioning.
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I don’t think it’s as bad as everyone’s making it out be. It’s tastefully tongue-in-cheek, well produced and the song is pretty catchy. Macca’s always gets shit-canned, in some cases it’s fair enough but in this case I don’t think it’s deserved.
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Tastefully tounge in cheek BC? Well said.
But I do disagree. Lamb? Lame.
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Branded Entertainment isn’t qualified by what is “entertaining” on Mumbrella’s thread. this isn’t smart….and will likely do well !
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Justin Timberlake did great things for them, but he was alreayd famous and awesome…X factor isn’t the same calibre.
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Oh dear.
This went the whole way around the circle of cool. Obviously bad, verging on being so bad it could be good, but then kept on going back around to terrible.
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With Leo’s and DDB on the books why would OMD Fuse be leading this?
Stick to spending the media bucks on placement, not production
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Kids will love it and good fun.
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Seriously – cant get the song out of my head. Love it!
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DDB and Leos havent done anything exciting for the brand for years. If you actually watch the show you would realise McDonalds owned it for a good part of it right through the middle. Great integration well executed
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I don’t find this to be funny or clever, other than viral spread due to cringe factor. Watching it live on The X-Factor at first it seemed to be pitched as Ruffo’s new single, then he starts singing about being torn between two burgers and I thought, “Yep, piss-take.” After watching the full video online it comes off as trying to be a cool song that integrates promotion of new burger products, rather than tongue-in-cheek. If they wanted to make it a piss-take that pokes fun at themselves in a humourous way then they should’ve really hammed it up Carl’s Jr. style: http://youtu.be/zmpLOFZurMA
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Oh dear. I can’t say their lamb burgers took my breath away. I was wondering what else was in that patty with the lamb. Actually… was their any lamb? It certainly made up my mind to head for the sushi bar next time.
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This is horrible and makes me cringe. Is it a song or an ad or a failed attempt at both? In my opinion this content damages Ruffo’s brand.
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This is a fun well made production. Like the song – you can see they had fun making it and they are not taking themselves too seriously.
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this had me laughing but it is cringe worthy isn’t it?! Can’t say it makes me want to buy one…
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This is pretty great work.
When I first saw it on tv I thought Droga5 had done. It seemed like fresh consumer integration of the highest level.
Then I read on Mumbrella it was OMD – Congrats! This is pushing the boundaries and blurring the edges of what is an ad and what is content and what the kids will love.
The song is catchy, D5 style planning and great production levels.
Welcome to the future people!
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this was made for the x factor audience they nailed it
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This is why you need an agency or at least a good director (or at least someone who knows something about comedy) to make sure the tone is right. It is conceivable that you could make a funny bit about a guy choosing between a burger and a girl, but this is not it. Mostly because the visuals are not doing any work (comedy-wise). The words could do more too. This comes off as a serious attempt make burgers cool. Which is lame, lame, lame.
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I’m a massive fan of XFactor and i loved it
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Can you imagine how many people had to approve this no wonder it is so safe
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I am a massive fan of X Factor and of Droga5 and I loved it too!
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Ok I am not a fan of Xfactor and definitely not a fan of McDonald’s but this is great. Doesn’t make me want to buy one but really I think you negative nancy’s are all being a little harsh- its on brand, on target and inventive, I wouldn’t over intellectualise it and as for Ruffo’s brand- who cares!
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When does advertising “jump the shark”.. oh
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