WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.940 I want you to imagine something for a second. 00:00:03.319 --> 00:00:06.759 You are given a job, and your job is to convince 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:11.199 the entire planet -like billions of people across 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:13.460 completely different continents, languages, cultures, 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.199 to eat your hamburgers. That is, I mean, that's 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:18.859 a massive order. Right. And how do you actually 00:00:18.859 --> 00:00:21.179 do that? Do you just, you know, keep tweaking 00:00:21.179 --> 00:00:23.379 the secret sauce? Do you make the buns softer? 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:26.620 Or do you have to pull off something much, much 00:00:26.620 --> 00:00:28.820 bigger? Yeah, usually it's the latter. Like you 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:31.519 have to find a way to basically hack our language, 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:34.840 our culture, and ultimately our brains. It's 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:38.280 a huge question. And when you look at the history 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:41.500 of modern advertising, the answer almost never 00:00:41.500 --> 00:00:44.079 lies in the recipe itself. No, not at all. The 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:46.520 food is actually secondary. The real magic or 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:48.719 the real manipulation, depending on how you want 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:50.659 to look at it, lies entirely in the psychology 00:00:50.659 --> 00:00:53.060 of the pitch. Exactly. And welcome to the deep 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:54.740 dive. Today, we are looking at something that 00:00:54.740 --> 00:00:57.299 might sound maybe a little dry at first glance, 00:00:57.579 --> 00:00:59.820 but it is actually mind blowing when you really 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:01.700 dig into it. Oh, absolutely. We're going through 00:01:01.700 --> 00:01:05.659 a massive, incredibly exhaustive Wikipedia timeline. 00:01:06.060 --> 00:01:09.640 And it documents every single marketing campaign 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:13.920 this specific fast food giant has ever run. And 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:16.340 it is a long list. It really is. And our mission 00:01:16.340 --> 00:01:18.719 today is to trace that evolution. Because when 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:20.840 you look at this timeline chronologically, you 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:24.079 see them go from shouting these literal functional 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:28.299 instructions at people in the 1960s to building 00:01:28.299 --> 00:01:31.920 this universal emotional empire. Just using abstract 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:34.459 slogans. Right, slogans and these catchy musical 00:01:34.459 --> 00:01:36.819 earworms. It really acts as an accidental roadmap 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:38.939 of human psychology. Because what you quickly 00:01:38.939 --> 00:01:41.459 realize going through this timeline is that marketing 00:01:41.459 --> 00:01:43.560 at this scale isn't just about selling french 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:45.459 fries or milkshake. No, it's way bigger than 00:01:45.459 --> 00:01:47.099 that. It acts as a mirror, like these campaigns 00:01:47.099 --> 00:01:49.340 perfectly reflect the cultural shifts happening 00:01:49.340 --> 00:01:51.719 over the decades. Yeah. So we are going to unpack 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:54.840 how a simple roadside burger joint went from 00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:57.849 literally begging people to visit them, to simply 00:01:57.849 --> 00:02:00.109 becoming a global state of mind. Let's start 00:02:00.109 --> 00:02:02.170 right at the beginning of this timeline, because 00:02:02.170 --> 00:02:04.810 before this company could conquer global culture, 00:02:05.109 --> 00:02:07.170 they had to figure out what they were actually 00:02:07.170 --> 00:02:09.629 selling to Americans. And it turns out it wasn't 00:02:09.629 --> 00:02:12.330 just food. Not at all. If you look at their early 00:02:12.330 --> 00:02:15.389 advertising in the 1960s, the vibe, well, it 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:17.729 reminds me of a genuinely terrible first date. 00:02:17.870 --> 00:02:20.990 A bad first date. I'm listening. Tell me more. 00:02:21.689 --> 00:02:24.289 You know the kind. It's very literal, a little 00:02:24.289 --> 00:02:27.009 bit demanding, and honestly, just a bit desperate. 00:02:27.229 --> 00:02:29.270 Right, like there's no romance. Exactly, zero 00:02:29.270 --> 00:02:32.870 romance. The US slogans from the early 1960s 00:02:32.870 --> 00:02:36.430 are literally just instructions. So in 1960, 00:02:36.590 --> 00:02:40.530 the slogan is, let's eat out. Wow, very direct. 00:02:40.689 --> 00:02:42.870 Right. And then another one, that same year is 00:02:42.870 --> 00:02:45.300 just, Look for the golden arches. It's purely 00:02:45.300 --> 00:02:47.560 functional. Just pointing at themselves. Yeah. 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:50.099 They're basically saying we are a building. We 00:02:50.099 --> 00:02:53.379 have food. Come eat the food. It's entirely transaction 00:02:53.379 --> 00:02:56.240 based. Like you're hungry. We have calories. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:58.719 Let's make a deal. But the American cultural 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:00.939 landscape was shifting pretty dramatically as 00:03:00.939 --> 00:03:03.479 the 60s turned into the 70s. You have a rising 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:07.460 cost of living, massive cultural upheaval and 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:10.199 an incredibly exhausted working class. People 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:14.740 were tired. Exactly. And so in 1971, you see 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:17.520 this foundational pivot in their strategy. They 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:20.259 roll out the slogan, you deserve a break today. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:23.240 Which, I mean, becomes completely iconic. Right. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:25.979 But what is fascinating is why it works so well. 00:03:26.090 --> 00:03:28.729 They completely shifted the product. They stopped 00:03:28.729 --> 00:03:31.189 selling a physical hamburger and started selling 00:03:31.189 --> 00:03:32.830 an emotional release. Oh, that's interesting. 00:03:33.009 --> 00:03:34.669 Think about the average working -class family 00:03:34.669 --> 00:03:37.650 in the early 1970s. People were stressed. So 00:03:37.650 --> 00:03:39.669 the restaurant positioned itself not as a dining 00:03:39.669 --> 00:03:42.530 room, but as a sanctuary. Like an escape. Exactly. 00:03:42.870 --> 00:03:45.189 The pitch was, you aren't just buying a cheap 00:03:45.189 --> 00:03:48.080 meal. You are treating yourself to a well -earned 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:50.479 break from your exhausting, demanding life. And 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:53.800 the execution of that 1971 campaign is wild. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:56.159 If you pull up the details of the television 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.479 commercial for You Deserve a Break Today, it 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:00.599 makes absolutely no sense by modern standards. 00:04:00.699 --> 00:04:03.159 It really doesn't. If a fast food place ran this 00:04:03.159 --> 00:04:05.400 ad today, people would be so confused. Yeah. 00:04:05.419 --> 00:04:07.560 Because there is almost no food in the commercial. 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:10.409 Barely a glimpse of a burger. It's crazy. Instead, 00:04:10.569 --> 00:04:13.229 it features this all -male cleaning crew working 00:04:13.229 --> 00:04:16.269 after hours, and they are singing about their 00:04:16.269 --> 00:04:18.649 janitorial tasks. Right, marching around with 00:04:18.649 --> 00:04:21.029 mops and buckets. Literally bragging that at 00:04:21.029 --> 00:04:23.889 McDonald's, it's clean. Yeah. And then it crescendos 00:04:23.889 --> 00:04:27.230 into this, like, operatic Broadway -style chorus 00:04:27.230 --> 00:04:29.829 singing about getting away to the restaurant. 00:04:29.970 --> 00:04:32.459 It's quite the production. Oh, and a quick fact 00:04:32.459 --> 00:04:35.240 check for the music trivia nerds listening. There 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.199 is this long standing myth that Barry Manello 00:04:38.199 --> 00:04:40.839 sang that original jingle. Oh, I've heard that 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:43.139 one. Yeah, it's a common rumor. He did sing one 00:04:43.139 --> 00:04:45.660 version of it later on in his career. He even 00:04:45.660 --> 00:04:47.740 included it in a medley of product themes, he 00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:51.319 wrote. But the original 1971 TV spot was actually 00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:53.600 written and sung by a jingle writer named Kenny 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:55.899 Caron. That's a great piece of trivia to clear 00:04:55.899 --> 00:04:58.300 up. But going back to the ad itself, the cleaning 00:04:58.300 --> 00:05:00.439 crew aspect of that commercial is actually a 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:02.819 master class in consumer psychology. Wait, really? 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:05.680 Oh, yeah. It highlights a massive hurdle they 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:07.620 had to overcome back then. Wait, I have to stop 00:05:07.620 --> 00:05:08.959 you there because I'm trying to picture this 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.600 from a business perspective. You're a fast food 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:13.480 company. You're spending massive amounts of money 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:16.389 on a TV ad. Right. Why on earth are you putting 00:05:16.389 --> 00:05:19.189 a guy with a mop on television? Like if you're 00:05:19.189 --> 00:05:21.730 reminding people about janitors and a bucket 00:05:21.730 --> 00:05:24.730 of dirty water, are you accidentally reminding 00:05:24.730 --> 00:05:27.350 them that your restaurants get gross? You'd think 00:05:27.350 --> 00:05:29.269 so. Doesn't that just make people think of dirty 00:05:29.269 --> 00:05:32.170 floors instead of sizzling burgers? It seems 00:05:32.170 --> 00:05:34.689 completely counterintuitive now, absolutely. 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:37.579 But you really have to put yourself in the mindset 00:05:37.579 --> 00:05:41.339 of the early 1970s consumer. Fast food was still 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:43.779 a relatively new concept for a lot of families. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.540 OK. The predecessor to the modern drive -through 00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:49.879 was the roadside burger stand. And those places, 00:05:50.139 --> 00:05:52.160 they had a terrible reputation. Oh, like they 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:55.360 were greasy and dirty. Exactly. There was a lingering 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:58.879 unspoken anxiety among parents about the sanitation 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:02.399 of cheap roadside food. So by centering the ad 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:05.079 around an enthusiastic, obsessive cleaning crew, 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:08.879 they were neutralizing that exact anxiety. They 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:11.339 were subconsciously telling mothers and fathers, 00:06:11.899 --> 00:06:14.660 this place is spotless. It is safe for your children. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:18.800 They wrapped this very clinical, operational 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:22.199 reassurance. inside a catchy emotional pitch. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:25.079 That is brilliant. OK, so selling a break and 00:06:25.079 --> 00:06:27.540 selling cleanliness works perfectly in America. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:30.319 It's a massive success. But as you scroll down 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:33.560 this Wikipedia timeline into the 80s and 90s, 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.560 you see the brand trying to expand globally. 00:06:36.620 --> 00:06:38.399 And that's a whole different ballgame. Yeah, 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:41.459 because emotional concepts don't just magically 00:06:41.459 --> 00:06:44.100 translate across borders. A break means something 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:46.019 very different depending on where you live. Right. 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:48.939 To pull off global expansion, they couldn't just 00:06:48.939 --> 00:06:51.779 dub the English ads. They had to become a total 00:06:51.779 --> 00:06:54.379 cultural chameleon. You can't just take an American 00:06:54.379 --> 00:06:57.040 psychological framework, which is often rooted 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.300 in hustle culture and the need for an escape, 00:06:59.860 --> 00:07:01.720 and just copy paste it onto the rest of the world. 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:04.660 The regional slogans from this era are bizarre 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:06.379 and honestly pretty hilarious. Let's look at 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:09.740 Germany. In the 1970s, their pitch was the somewhat 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:11.759 different restaurant. The somewhat different 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.600 restaurant. It's so incredibly understated. It 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:17.980 is. We are somewhat different. Come on in. Very 00:07:17.980 --> 00:07:20.500 pragmatic. Exactly. And then you jump over to 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:24.180 Brazil in 1994, and suddenly the vibe is deeply 00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:27.220 philosophical. The slogan there is, tasty like 00:07:27.220 --> 00:07:30.329 life should be. Oh, I love that one. Meanwhile, 00:07:30.490 --> 00:07:33.629 in the UK in 2002, they went with a purely lyrical, 00:07:33.709 --> 00:07:35.850 almost sensory vibe. It was things that make 00:07:35.850 --> 00:07:40.230 you go M, M, M, M. Very early 2000s. Right. And 00:07:40.230 --> 00:07:42.449 Australia, which actually might be my favorite, 00:07:42.589 --> 00:07:44.829 in 2005, they went with a psychological command. 00:07:45.009 --> 00:07:47.589 They said, feed your inner child. That's intense 00:07:47.589 --> 00:07:50.050 for a burger. It is. And then just four years 00:07:50.050 --> 00:07:53.170 later, in 2009, the Australians pivoted entirely 00:07:53.170 --> 00:07:56.379 to it's a little bit fancy. When you look at 00:07:56.379 --> 00:07:58.060 that list of translations, what really stands 00:07:58.060 --> 00:08:00.360 out is how carefully they are reading the room. 00:08:00.699 --> 00:08:02.980 It's like a politician on a campaign trail. You 00:08:02.980 --> 00:08:05.439 know how a politician will entirely change their 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:07.199 speech and sometimes even their accent, depending 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:08.779 on which town they're visiting. And pandering 00:08:08.779 --> 00:08:11.060 to the crowd. Exactly. They figure out what the 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:13.420 locals value and they mirror it right back to 00:08:13.420 --> 00:08:15.579 them. Only here, instead of asking for your vote, 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:17.939 they're just asking you to buy a McDouble. And 00:08:17.939 --> 00:08:21.660 they executed it perfectly by observing the distinct 00:08:21.660 --> 00:08:25.120 cultural DNA of each market. Think about Germany. 00:08:25.310 --> 00:08:29.029 Culturally, there is an appreciation for straightforwardness, 00:08:29.350 --> 00:08:32.389 for pragmatism, and clear categorization. So 00:08:32.389 --> 00:08:35.649 no big emotional promises. Right. So the somewhat 00:08:35.649 --> 00:08:38.360 different restaurant. appeals to a desire for 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:41.899 clear, no -nonsense distinction without the typical 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:44.519 American hyperbole. That makes total sense. Now, 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:46.960 contrast that with Brazil. Brazilian culture 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:50.259 heavily emphasizes passion, community, and the 00:08:50.259 --> 00:08:53.500 vibrant enjoyment of daily life, a concept often 00:08:53.500 --> 00:08:56.840 referred to as allegria. Oh, yeah. So tasty like 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:59.120 life should be taps right into that joy. They 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.299 knew they couldn't force American ideals globally. 00:09:01.379 --> 00:09:03.679 They had to reflect the local soul. But matching 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:06.480 a culture is passive. By the late 80s, just having 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.980 a catchy localized slogan wasn't enough anymore. 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:10.759 They didn't just want to reflect behavior. They 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:12.779 wanted to dictate it. They wanted to take over. 00:09:13.019 --> 00:09:15.200 Exactly. They wanted to hijack the public's attention 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:17.639 entirely. And the way they did it was by turning 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:20.200 their menu into a high stakes pop culture game. 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:22.759 Which brings us to the most chaotic part of this 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:24.580 entire timeline. Oh, I know what you're going 00:09:24.580 --> 00:09:27.220 to say. The one million dollar menu song promotion 00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:30.960 from 1988 to 1989. This campaign was an absolute 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.059 phenomenon. If you lived through it, you remember 00:09:33.059 --> 00:09:35.649 it. It's mind blowing. So picture this, it's 00:09:35.649 --> 00:09:38.429 1988, there's no internet, you open your Sunday 00:09:38.429 --> 00:09:42.799 newspaper, and this flimsy almost paper -thin 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:45.460 plastic record falls out. A flexi disc. Yes, 00:09:45.539 --> 00:09:48.559 a flexi disc. They distributed 80 million of 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:51.179 these records in newspapers all across the United 00:09:51.179 --> 00:09:54.039 States. 80 million. That's a staggering number. 00:09:54.179 --> 00:09:56.460 Right. And the song on the record was based on 00:09:56.460 --> 00:09:59.919 a 1974 hit called Life is a Rock. But the lyrics 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:02.259 were completely rewritten to be a rapid fire 00:10:02.259 --> 00:10:04.620 recitation of the entire menu. The whole menu. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:06.980 The whole thing. It goes something like Big Mac, 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:10.100 McDLT, a quarter pounder with some cheese, Filet 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:12.179 -O -Fish, a hamburger, a cheeseburger, a happy 00:10:12.179 --> 00:10:14.419 meal, and it just keeps going faster and faster. 00:10:14.659 --> 00:10:17.039 Sandwiches, lunch items, breakfast, desserts, 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:20.600 drinks. It was incredibly fast -paced. It was 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:22.519 designed to be almost impossible for a normal 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:25.120 person to sing along to without stumbling. And 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:28.139 here is the craziest fact from the entire era. 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:33.399 Out of those 80 million records, if the studio 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:35.460 singers on your record messed up the lyrics, 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:38.039 which they did on purpose, your record was a 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:41.629 loser. Right. There was only one winning record 00:10:41.629 --> 00:10:43.870 in existence where the singers made it all the 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:46.230 way to the end without making a mistake. One 00:10:46.230 --> 00:10:48.470 out of 80 million. Those are literal lottery 00:10:48.470 --> 00:10:51.289 odds. Yes. And it was found by a woman named 00:10:51.289 --> 00:10:53.909 Charlene Price in Galax, Virginia. She played 00:10:53.909 --> 00:10:56.389 her record. The singers got to the end flawlessly, 00:10:56.470 --> 00:10:59.889 and she won a million dollars. Wow. And get this. 00:11:00.070 --> 00:11:02.429 She used her million dollars to buy the convenience 00:11:02.429 --> 00:11:05.370 store where she worked. That is an incredible 00:11:05.370 --> 00:11:07.269 human interest story wrapped inside a corporate 00:11:07.269 --> 00:11:10.190 campaign. But if we analyze the psychology of 00:11:10.190 --> 00:11:11.850 what the company was doing here, it wasn't just 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:14.730 a sweepstakes. What was it then? It was, for 00:11:14.730 --> 00:11:17.730 lack of a better term, a massive voluntary brainwashing 00:11:17.730 --> 00:11:20.230 experiment. Oh, right. Because you had people 00:11:20.230 --> 00:11:22.250 playing it over and over, trying to learn the 00:11:22.250 --> 00:11:24.450 song, hoping they had the winning record. Exactly. 00:11:24.509 --> 00:11:26.870 They gamified the menu. They forced millions 00:11:26.870 --> 00:11:30.129 of consumers to voluntarily memorize the exact 00:11:30.129 --> 00:11:32.600 order of their entire product line. That's kinda 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:34.620 genius. Think about the cognitive permanence 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:38.179 of that. If you teach someone a song, it bypasses 00:11:38.179 --> 00:11:40.159 critical thinking and lodges straight into their 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:44.100 memory. And what's more, they localized the gamification. 00:11:44.179 --> 00:11:46.379 It wasn't just an American phenomenon. Oh, right. 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:48.639 The timeline shows they actually adapted this 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:51.779 for other countries, too. In Canada, they changed 00:11:51.779 --> 00:11:54.539 the rapid -fire lyrics to include the McChicken 00:11:54.539 --> 00:11:56.919 and Omelette McMuffins. Very specific to them. 00:11:56.980 --> 00:11:59.360 Yeah. And in Hong Kong, they changed the lyrics 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:02.139 to include Hot Chocolate and added the phrase, 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:05.720 It's Time for Tea. They literally tweaked the 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:08.779 song so that every specific region was memorizing 00:12:08.779 --> 00:12:11.919 their specific menu offerings. It's an incredible 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:13.799 level of customization. But hold on a second, 00:12:13.820 --> 00:12:17.080 I have to ask. If you give 80 million people 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:19.419 a game that is literally rigged for them to lose, 00:12:19.419 --> 00:12:26.200 and you make 79 ,999 ,999 people listen to a 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:29.259 frustrating audio track where the singers intentionally 00:12:29.259 --> 00:12:31.759 screw up at the last second. It sounds bad when 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:33.929 you say it like that. Right, how is that not 00:12:33.929 --> 00:12:36.909 a massive public relations disaster? If a company 00:12:36.909 --> 00:12:39.549 did that today, they would be trending on social 00:12:39.549 --> 00:12:42.399 media for all the wrong reasons by noon. People 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:45.639 would be furious. You're completely right. Today, 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:48.320 that would probably generate a massive wave of 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:52.019 angry viral reaction videos. But you have to 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:54.940 remember the media environment of the late 1980s. 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:57.100 It was different. Very different. It was largely 00:12:57.100 --> 00:12:59.740 monocultural. Everyone was reading the same newspapers, 00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:01.639 watching the same three or four TV channels. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:04.299 The shared frustration of the record messing 00:13:04.299 --> 00:13:07.039 up became part of the cultural water cooler conversation. 00:13:07.139 --> 00:13:10.100 Oh, I see. The joke was on everyone together. 00:13:10.350 --> 00:13:12.929 The collective experience of losing the game 00:13:12.929 --> 00:13:14.870 and then complaining about it with your coworkers 00:13:14.870 --> 00:13:17.690 the next day was almost as valuable to the brand 00:13:17.690 --> 00:13:20.110 as the game itself. It created a weird sense 00:13:20.110 --> 00:13:22.710 of community around the brand. Okay, so that 00:13:22.710 --> 00:13:25.009 high -effort hyper -localized strategy works 00:13:25.009 --> 00:13:27.809 for the 80s and 90s. But managing hundreds of 00:13:27.809 --> 00:13:30.169 different regional slogans and pressing millions 00:13:30.169 --> 00:13:32.970 of localized plastic records? I mean, that has 00:13:32.970 --> 00:13:35.009 to be a logistical nightmare. A total nightmare 00:13:35.009 --> 00:13:37.850 for their ad agencies. Right. And as we move 00:13:37.850 --> 00:13:40.539 into the 2000s... The internet is making the 00:13:40.539 --> 00:13:43.620 world a lot smaller. You see the brand seeking 00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:46.620 what I'd call the holy grail of marketing, a 00:13:46.620 --> 00:13:49.279 single universal vibe. They wanted something 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:51.539 that pop culture would just propel forward on 00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:53.960 its own without them having to literally mail 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:56.659 out 80 million physical records. And they found 00:13:56.659 --> 00:13:58.980 it in 2003, this is what we can call the monolith 00:13:58.980 --> 00:14:03.279 era. They launched I'm Lovin' It, complete with 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:07.120 a five note vocal hook. Ba da ba ba ba. The earworm 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.220 to end all earworms. I mean, you literally can't 00:14:09.220 --> 00:14:11.220 say the phrase, I'm loving it, without hearing 00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:13.480 those five notes in your head. And this was revolutionary 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:16.000 for them because it finally consolidated the 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:18.539 brand globally. They didn't need entirely different 00:14:18.539 --> 00:14:20.460 philosophical concepts for different countries 00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:23.019 anymore. The feeling translated perfectly everywhere. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.360 How so? Well, in China, it was Wu Zhu's one. 00:14:25.990 --> 00:14:29.149 In the Arab world, it became, or Hebrew, it was 00:14:29.149 --> 00:14:30.889 the exact same sentiment, the exact same five 00:14:30.889 --> 00:14:33.549 notes, globally synchronized. They created a 00:14:33.549 --> 00:14:36.190 sonic brand that completely transcended language 00:14:36.190 --> 00:14:39.029 barriers. And the lengths they went to embed 00:14:39.029 --> 00:14:41.350 this into pop culture are amazing. Like if you 00:14:41.350 --> 00:14:43.269 look at the Justin Timberlake versions of the 00:14:43.269 --> 00:14:46.490 I'm Lovin' It commercial from 2003. The lyrics 00:14:46.490 --> 00:14:48.929 he sings have absolutely nothing to do with food. 00:14:49.190 --> 00:14:50.870 Nothing at all. I mean, listen to the lyrics 00:14:50.870 --> 00:14:53.370 Timberlake actually sang. He sings about how, 00:14:53.389 --> 00:14:55.389 since he doesn't cook, he rocks to the beat. 00:14:55.710 --> 00:14:59.129 He brags about his car being way too clean and 00:14:59.129 --> 00:15:01.529 getting love taps from my girl. Just completely 00:15:01.529 --> 00:15:04.590 disconnected from burgers. Yeah. He is just describing 00:15:04.590 --> 00:15:08.450 a cool, stress -free, attractive lifestyle. Which 00:15:08.450 --> 00:15:11.669 is the ultimate final evolution of that 1971 00:15:11.669 --> 00:15:16.299 you deserve a break today concept. Now the break 00:15:16.299 --> 00:15:18.580 isn't a relief from a hard day of physical labor. 00:15:19.059 --> 00:15:22.220 It is an effortless, cool lifestyle. Wow, that's 00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:24.200 so true. The brand has essentially vanished into 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:26.340 the background. They aren't telling you to look 00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:28.559 for the golden arches anymore. They are just 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:30.659 operating as the soundtrack to a lifestyle you 00:15:30.659 --> 00:15:32.539 want to have. And that actually brings us to 00:15:32.539 --> 00:15:34.720 the most recent and arguably the most surreal 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:37.779 campaign on this entire timeline. We jump all 00:15:37.779 --> 00:15:41.080 the way to 2024, the Jack Donald's phenomenon. 00:15:41.389 --> 00:15:45.629 Ah, yes. This is a perfect example of modern 00:15:45.629 --> 00:15:49.269 marketing symbiosis. And it shows how power dynamics 00:15:49.269 --> 00:15:51.649 between brands and consumers have completely 00:15:51.649 --> 00:15:54.309 shifted in the internet age. Tell me about it. 00:15:54.850 --> 00:15:58.590 So for decades, anime and manga creators in Japan 00:15:58.590 --> 00:16:01.730 didn't want to pay trademark fees or deal with 00:16:01.730 --> 00:16:04.009 copyright infringement issues when depicting 00:16:04.009 --> 00:16:06.610 fast food restaurants and their art. Makes sense. 00:16:06.769 --> 00:16:08.929 So as a running inside joke, they would just 00:16:08.929 --> 00:16:12.230 flip the famous M logo upside down to a W and 00:16:12.230 --> 00:16:15.029 call it W. Get Donald's or Wakuta Naruto. It 00:16:15.029 --> 00:16:17.669 was just a massive Internet and pop culture meme. 00:16:17.669 --> 00:16:20.549 It lived entirely in the fiction of anime. Right. 00:16:20.549 --> 00:16:23.460 It was an organic creation of a subculture. But 00:16:23.460 --> 00:16:26.200 in 2024, the actual corporation leaned into the 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:28.240 joke. They officially flipped their own logo. 00:16:28.340 --> 00:16:31.019 Which is crazy. They rolled out a bunch of McDonald's 00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:33.519 packaging and branding in the US, Canada, France, 00:16:33.820 --> 00:16:36.379 Japan, and the Philippines. They created an entire 00:16:36.379 --> 00:16:39.320 global campaign purely to mirror a fictionalized 00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:41.440 parody version of themselves that was created 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.240 by their own consumers. Wait, think about that 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:45.360 for a second. That is wild. You have a company 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:47.320 that spends 60 years protecting their golden 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:49.740 arches with an iron fist. Suing everyone. Right. 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:52.700 They sue anyone who uses a similar arch. And 00:16:52.700 --> 00:16:55.940 then they just willingly turned their own globally 00:16:55.940 --> 00:16:58.360 recognized logo upside down because internet 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:01.279 culture thought it was cool. Isn't that a massive 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:03.759 surrender of brand control, like letting a bunch 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:06.960 of online anime fans dictate your corporate identity? 00:17:07.579 --> 00:17:09.460 It might look like a surrender of control on 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:11.819 the surface, but it is actually the ultimate 00:17:11.819 --> 00:17:13.839 victory in modern marketing. How do you mean? 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:16.740 In the age of social media, consumers are highly 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:19.920 skeptical of top -down advertising. They do not 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:22.700 want to be told what to buy. True. But when a 00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:25.200 brand allows the consumer to feel like they own 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:27.720 the brand, when the inside jokes of the community 00:17:27.720 --> 00:17:30.079 actually dictate the marketing, the marketing 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:32.599 essentially does itself. The company doesn't 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:35.640 have to shout, let's eat out anymore. The consumers 00:17:35.640 --> 00:17:38.019 are doing the talking for them. By embracing 00:17:38.019 --> 00:17:40.720 like Donald's, the company isn't surrendering. 00:17:40.940 --> 00:17:43.859 They're becoming a participatory piece of global 00:17:43.859 --> 00:17:46.880 Internet culture. That's a huge shift. So what 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:48.680 does this all mean for you, the listener? Why 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:50.880 should you care about the history of a burger 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.589 slogan? It's a fair question. I think the takeaway 00:17:53.589 --> 00:17:56.710 here is about being mindful of the media environment 00:17:56.710 --> 00:17:59.569 we all swim in. The next time you catch yourself 00:17:59.569 --> 00:18:02.450 absentmindedly humming a five -note jingle or 00:18:02.450 --> 00:18:04.849 you notice a catchy new slogan on a billboard, 00:18:05.250 --> 00:18:08.289 I want you to pause. Take a second. Yeah. Ask 00:18:08.289 --> 00:18:10.950 yourself, what is this company actually trying 00:18:10.950 --> 00:18:14.309 to sell me right now? Is it a product or is it 00:18:14.309 --> 00:18:17.029 a feeling? Are they offering me a sandwich or 00:18:17.029 --> 00:18:19.230 are they offering me a specific way to see myself? 00:18:19.579 --> 00:18:21.680 And that leaves us with a really fascinating 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:24.539 concept to mull over. We've seen how this company 00:18:24.539 --> 00:18:28.180 spent decades hacking language and culture, shifting 00:18:28.180 --> 00:18:30.579 from literal functional instructions to these 00:18:30.579 --> 00:18:33.039 emotional soundtracks. But if an advertising 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:35.680 slogan, a feeling, a five -note jingle, an upside 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:38.880 -down letter, becomes so deeply embedded in global 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:41.299 consciousness that it outlives the products it 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:43.720 was originally designed to sell, could a brand 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:46.720 eventually exist purely as an emotion? even if 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:48.640 the physical food completely disappeared. Now 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:49.859 there is a thought to chew on.