McDonald’s Describes New Brand Vision, Reaffirms Commitment to ‘I’m Lovin’ It’
By Matthew Lyle • January 3, 2015McDonald’s described an updated approach to marketing its brand, but the long-running “I’m lovin’ it” tagline isn’t going anywhere. The chain is instead “reigniting” the “I’m lovin’ it” theme “by introducing a new platform that puts more focus on lovin’,” said the company in a statement. The messaging will focus more on positivity “with more uplifting content and conversations in the lovin’ spirit.
U.S. CMO Deborah Wahl said in a video about the brand refresh that the company will move from a philosophy of “billions served” — a line featured on the chains’ marquees — to “billions heard.”
The central spot introducing the new vision is an animated ad called “Arch enemies.” In it the company illustrates its renewed focus on “lovin'” by showing characters that have long been enemies — the Smurfs and their antagonist Gargamel, Batman and the Joker, a Chicago Bears fan and a Green Bay Packers fan, Freddy from “Nightmare on Elm Street” and Jason Voorhees from “Friday the 13th,” and so on — with each encounter ending happily. Then comes the phrase “Choose Lovin'” before the commercial ends with “I’m lovin’ it.”
The company said other changes in 2015 will include new uniforms on crew members, as well as new packaging and signs in restaurants.