In 1954, a hard-working midwestern salesman/cultural visionary had an idea. Ray Kroc conceived of a restaurant that could serve to the customer, no matter where that customer might be, the very same high-quality hamburger. Almost 6 decades later, McDonald’s serves nearly 69 million people every day in their more than 34,000 restaurants around the globe.
In hindsight, calling Kroc a cultural visionary may have been a bit of an understatement.
From almost the beginning, advertising has been a vital part of McDonald’s growth and success. In the early 1960s, as McDonald’s grew from its very first store in Des Plaines, Illinois to a few hundred across the country, it was advertising that helped spur the growth. Kroc believed strongly in advertising, feeling its investment would be returned many times over. Soon McDonald’s commercials were popping up on televisions everywhere. “I’m not in the hamburger business,” Kroc once said, “I’m in show business”.
His uncanny grasp of the power of television advertising manifested itself in a particular kind of television commercial. A McDonald’s commercial was about family, friends and community. About quality food and quality time spent enjoying it. About life as we lived it. Or life as we wished we could.
From those very early days, the McDonald’s brand was defined by its television advertising. 30 and 60-second stories that were at least as entertaining as the shows they interrupted. There were so many. Broom-wielding crew guys tipping their McDonald’s caps to Broadway. A tongue-twisting chant that helped introduce what would become a classic American hamburger. A colorful collection of characters who dazzled us all from a magical place called McDonaldland. And, of course, Ronald McDonald himself, a childhood icon for more than 50 years.
There was Bird versus Jordan in a call-your-shot battle for a Big Mac. Some have called it the greatest Super Bowl commercial of all time. And if it wasn’t, maybe a spot about a day in the life of American Pee Wee football players was.
Of course, no discussion of McDonald’s advertising would be complete without talking about the current “i’m lovin’ it” campaign. As the 21st century rolled along and McDonald’s reported almost unparalleled success, much of the credit could go to the advertising created under the “i’m lovin’ it” umbrella.
The McDonald’s brand lives and thrives today because of the commitment to advertising that its brilliant founder Kroc saw as vital. And although advertising has changed greatly over the years, if Kroc were around he’d embrace social, digital and mobile just as he did tv, print and radio. Because McDonald’s will always have a brand to build and a story to tell. A story of family. A story of friends. A story of community. That’s the McDonald’s story.
