McDonald's asks America to top its classic ad jingle

Just what do marketing agencies do these days, if companies are increasingly turning to regular folks to create their jingles and add campaigns? The latest to step into the user-generated content fray is McDonald's, which is reviving its classic jingle from 1974, "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame-seed bun."

The user part is to create a new version of the jingle -- using the same words, in the same order -- and post it on MySpace.com. They have received over 1,000 submissions so far, and you can vote on the top five, who are all men, interestingly enough.

The New York Times digs into the background of the ad and all the particulars of the campaign, including touching base with the original creator of the slogan, Keith Reinhard, who is "thrilled" that the jingle is being revived.

Nothing much is new under the sun in advertising, of course. McDonald's is touting this campaign as a major revival of the jingle for Big Mac's 40th anniversary, but it has revived it in the past for other commercial campaigns. Other products have also tried the user-generated concept. Doritos did it in a much bigger way during the Super Bowl last year.

I actually prefer when companies pull out old campaigns like this and re-run them as they were originally. It livens up the hyper-stylized marketing of today's TV ads and gives you a sense of perspective.

I was only a toddler when the first version of this McDonald's ad came out, but I certainly remember the slogan, and probably every other McDonald's commercial of my childhood. There was even a hand-slapping game that we used to play at camp to the tune of McDonald's food itmes (Big Mac, Filet of Fish, Quarter Pounder, French fries, icy coke, thick shake...does anyone remember the rest?). But I cannot tell you the gist of any recent advertising campaigns.

If you're up for a challenge, you could try out our Brand Slogans Quiz.

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