<\/p>\n
Everyone knows the McDonald\u2019s jingle. Even people who think they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
On a 90-degree day at Brooklyn\u2019s McCarren Park in early September, parkgoer Kash Livingston told us he wasn\u2019t familiar with the jingle. But as soon as he heard \u201cba da ba ba ba,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m Lovin\u2019 It.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2003, the fast-food giant reportedly paid Justin Timberlake $6 million to sing it. In the two decades since, other celebrities, from Destiny\u2019s Child to Brian Cox, have put their spins on the tune. Its origins and credits have been the subject of much debate, but one thing is clear: It\u2019s one of the most recognizable jingles in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s embedded in my brain at this point,\u201d Nina Benitich, another park visitor walking two dogs, said that same day.<\/p>\n
How did McDonald\u2019s achieve every brand\u2019s dream of living rent-free in the heads of basically every person? It started, as most things in advertising do, with an RFP.<\/p>\n
In February 2003, McDonald\u2019s asked 14 agencies across several countries to pitch ideas for a global campaign centered around music, Franco Tortora, co-founder and CEO of German music production company Mona Davis, told Marketing Brew.<\/p>\n
Around that time, the company posted its first-ever quarterly loss and shareholders weren\u2019t pleased, hence the massive call for ideas, according to Colleen Fahey, who was the executive creative director at the agency then responsible for in-store and promotional marketing for McDonald\u2019s (then called Frankel & Co., now called Arc Worldwide).<\/p>\n
McDonald\u2019s asked for the song to be hip-hop, since it was at the time losing ground with young consumers and wanted to change that, Tortora said. German agency Heye & Partner had already created the slogan \u201cI\u2019m Lovin\u2019 It\u201d as part of the pitch process, according to Tortora, and then brought Mona Davis in to write music to go along with it. Hip-hop was born in the US, so he thought the German team didn\u2019t stand a chance.<\/p>\n
It was about 3am in a recording studio after a long session, everyone losing steam, when Tortora said he asked the vocalist he was working with to sing something like \u201cba-ba-ba-whatever\u201d before calling it a night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t really convinced that night that any of it was good, but then the next morning, I started to listen to the last one and said, \u2018Not so bad,\u2019\u201d Tortora told us. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t intentionally composed; it was accidentally composed, because we had no other ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the idea Heye & Partner and Mona Davis ultimately presented to McDonald\u2019s. They, along with four other agencies, moved on to the next round in the process.<\/p>\n
They also moved past the next stage\u2014proving the tune could work well in other languages, countries, and music styles\u2014to become one of just three agencies in the running, Tortora said. After creating different arrangements meant to go along with specific events like the Olympics, it was down to just the German team and one American agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really like the Oscars,\u201d Tortora said. While he wasn\u2019t in the room for the announcement, a colleague told him there were around \u201c800 people in this room, and 20 were from Germany, and the rest were American. The guy in front said, \u2018And the winner is Germany,\u2019 and 20 people went, \u2018yay,\u2019 and the others were looking grumpy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then, the jingle\u2019s origins have been debated, most notably when Pusha T claimed that he wrote the jingle. But Tortora and co-founder Tom Batoy are widely credited across industry royalty-tracking databases as the songwriters of \u201cI\u2019m Lovin\u2019 It,\u201d according to Pitchfork.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Lovin\u2019 It\u201d wasn\u2019t the first jingle McDonald\u2019s used in its marketing; the fast-food company certainly tried its hand at music before. Some true fans might remember \u201cYou Deserve a Break Today,\u201d \u201cWe Do It All For You,\u201d \u201cWe Love to See You Smile,\u201d or the menu song, sometimes unearthed on TikTok.<\/p>\n
Yet none have stuck around as long as \u201cI\u2019m Lovin\u2019 It,\u201d which became the company\u2019s longest-running campaign after just seven years, according to Ad Age.<\/p>\n
Marketers have their theories as to why. Fahey described it as \u201cinnocent\u201d and \u201csingable,\u201d while Susan Westwater\u2014who worked on McDonald\u2019s campaigns with Fahey at Frankel in the \u201990s\u2014said the tune brings about a \u201cjolt of joy,\u201d perhaps because the notes go up. It\u2019s \u201ctimeless,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Garrett Crosby, owner of sonic branding agency We Time Audio House, said shifting from \u201cyou\u201d and \u201cwe\u201d language in prior jingles to first-person in \u201cI\u2019m Lovin\u2019 It\u201d may have helped its longevity. Jennifer Heape, co-founder and COO of voice agency Vixen Labs, which built an Alexa Skill for McDonald\u2019s in the UK, chalked it up in part to \u201csheer repetition,\u201d something others agreed is necessary for a successful sonic logo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey played around with it, but they\u2019ve never messed with the DNA of it,\u201d Heape said. \u201cThey\u2019ve kept it consistent. It is on everything. The thought of having a McDonald\u2019s ad without that sound is just impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps no explanation came up more among audio marketers than this: It\u2019s simple.<\/p>\n
Consistency is key, but after 20 years, it\u2019s easy to imagine how one simple tune can go from a catchy earworm to an annoyance. McDonald\u2019s seems to have avoided that, marketers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe melody stays consistent, but the execution of it gets changed from time to time, and so it definitely feels familiar, but fresh,\u201d Scot Westwater, who co-founded voice marketing consultancy Pragmatic Digital with Susan, said.<\/p>\n
Celebrities\u2014and even other companies\u2014have helped with that. When McDonald\u2019s created a celebrity meal with J Balvin in 2020, the singer said \u201cI\u2019m Lovin\u2019 It\u201d at the end of an ad he starred in. Succession<\/em> star Cox sang \u201cba da ba ba ba\u201d in a commercial for the brand that same year. When McDonald\u2019s collabed with Cactus Plant Flea Market last year, the streetwear brand put its own twist on the tune.<\/p>\n