McDonald's revives nostalgic Big Mac burger chant challenge

McDonald’s Australia has unveiled the fully integrated ‘The Original Mouthful’ campaign for the Big Mac burger, following the revival of one of the world's oldest burger chants earlier this month with a TV and out-of-home campaign. Adam&eveDDB - which played a role in supporting the campaign's creation - partnered with DDB Sydney and OMD to execute the campaign.

The second phase of the integrated campaign, designed to encourage fans’ participation, sees Macca’s bring back the original Big Mac chant promotion. Launched back in 1987 and a fond memory for existing Big Mac fans, the promotion has evolved via a tasty and Australian-first AI challenge, in partnership with Snapchat.

The Big Mac chant challenge - an innovative game available through Snapchat, TikTok, and the MyMacca's app, is designed to engage younger generations who are not familiar with the chant that entered the Aussie vernacular for their parents and grandparents. Big Mac lovers from the 70s, 80s and 90s will fondly remember the classic chant: "Two all-beef patties, Special Sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun."

Big Mac fans will be able to test their chanting skills, with rewards on offer for correct renditions of the chant within four seconds. Winners will receive a voucher code for a small Fries and Coke which can be redeemed with any Mac Family range, including the return of the Mac Jr and Grand Big Mac, purchased between April 17 and May 8.

Unlike 1987 where fans were required to go in store to compete, DDB Sydney, adam&eveDDB and OMD partnered with Snapchat to build an Australian-first bespoke lens, allowing the Snapchat community to undertake the chant challenge and win a MyMacca’s voucher code, directly within the Snapchat app. Powered by Snap's innovative speech recognition technology, the Lens recognises speech and detects the correct list of delicious ingredients from a trained machine learning model, to reward a winning result to users on the spot.

McDonald’s marketing director, Samantha McLeod, said: “We have already had such an incredible response to the first phase of our Big Mac campaign with super fans already reciting the chant they remember so well and younger generations now bringing new life to the chant as well. The next promotional phase of the campaign is set to challenge all Big Mac lovers – from the 80s right through to today – to recite the famous chant in a fun and engaging way. We can’t wait to see fans put themselves to the test on social media and see who meets the challenge!”

DDB Sydney Executive creative director, Matt Chandler, added: “The best part of the Big Mac chant campaign we grew up with was always the challenge to beat the clock and win yourself free Macca’s. You can’t bring back the chant without bringing back the promo. We had a unique opportunity to take this iconic jingle - a thing that went viral before there was even an internet to go viral on - and hand it over to Macca’s fans online. It’s going to be fun to watch the nation take on The Original Mouthful in this new and innovative way.”

To encourage participation among fans old and new, the Big Mac Chant Challenge will be everywhere. Aussie celebs took on the 4-second challenge in the jungle on Network 10’s I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! Australia; Karl and Sarah will tackle the tongue-twister on the Nine Network’s Today show; and clubs from the NRL and AFL will go head-to-head to claim being the fastest ro recite the chant.

The TV commercial and online video will promote the challenge with authentically crafted and decade-specific spots. In addition, fans’ socials feeds will be flooded with prompts, attempts, fumbles and more. And fans will be celebrated in reactive digital out-of-home to fuel the ongoing conversation and competition as it unfolds.

To ensure the campaign is inclusive for everyone to join in on the fun, DDB Sydney, adam&eveDDB and OMD also worked closely with disability consulting firm Get Skilled Access (GSA). GSA worked on creating an accessible way for people with varying types of access needs, focusing on including those who are non-verbal, blind or have low vision, as well as people who are deaf or hard of hearing, allowing them to participate in the campaign. The accessible features not only benefit people with disability but also allow all fans to have a more seamless way to interact with the campaign and be rewarded.

Head of McDonald’s at OMD, Emily Bosler, said: “We’re building the next generation of Big Mac fans, engaging younger Aussies and encouraging them to have some fun with the famous Big Mac chant. Extending seamlessly across all channels and working with our partners, like Snap, to elevate the consumers’ experience through ‘feel good’ moments of connection and creating more unique Macca’s moments for customers."

Head of creative strategy, APAC at Snap Inc., Haran Ramachandran, added: "It was fantastic to partner with the team at McDonald's, DDB and OMD, to bring the iconic Big Mac chant to Snapchat. Our augmented reality lens transforms the chant into a tactile and engaging challenge, where everyone can join the fun! It's testament to the unique capabilities of our platform to make advertising more human and immersive, and we're excited to see the Snapchat community rise to the occasion and take on the challenge."

The Original Mouthful Big Mac TV campaign launched earlier this month and leans heavily into the Big Mac’s 56-year legacy. A 60-second hero film takes burger fans all the way back to 1968, when Big Mac creator, Jim Delligatti, initially devised the now iconic burger. The film then travels through the Big Mac's evolution across the decades, showcasing just how the burger and its ingredients have stood the test of time.

For the next phase of the campaign, additional promotional ads, each with a different decade specific treatment, will encourage people to take part in the Big Mac chant and share their efforts on their social channels.

Credits

Client: McDonald’s Australia

Chris Brown – Chief Customer Officer

Samantha McLeod – Marketing Director

Liz Whitbread – Senior Brand Manager

Luke Elzerman - Experience Optimisation Manager

Chloe Brannagan – Brand Manager

Creative Agency: DDB Sydney

Stephen de Wolf – National Chief Creative Officer

Matt Chandler – Executive Creative Director

Cam Hoelter – Group Creative Partner

Stephanie Allen – Senior Copywriter

Andrew Torrisi – Senior Art Director

Paul Jansen – Senior Designer

Sophie Hackett – Junior Art Director (Social)

Amy Morrison – Junior Copywriter (Social)

Mandy Whatson – Group Managing Partner

Adam Blaynee – Group Business Director

Chloe McIvor – Senior Business Manager

Rene Shalala – Executive Producer

Jess Taylor – Producer

Katharina Wynne - Strategy Partner

Katy Andrews – Director Social and Content Strategy

Creative Agency: adam&eveDDB London

Richard Brim – Chief Creative Officer

Sarah Todd – Chief Growth & Integration Officer

Martin Beverley – Chief Strategy Officer

Production Company: Revolver

Director – Leilani Croucher

Managing Director / Co-Owner – Michael Ritchie

Executive Producer / Partner – Pip Smart

Senior Producer – Serena Paull

DOP – Andrew Commis

Production Designer – Damien Drew

Costume Designer – Sophie Fletcher

Post Production: ARC Edit

Executive Producer – Daniel Fry

Producer – Sally Quade

Editor – Elise Butt

Colourist – Edel Rafferty

Online Artist – Richard Lambert

Online Artist / VFX – Patrick Campbell

Sound & Music: Smith & Western Sound

Nick West & Dan Higson

Media: OMD

Emily Bosler – Head of McDonald’s

Zoe May – Head of Strategy

Catriona Oran Barthram – Head of Comms Planning

Hattie Dinger – Director, Entertainment Partnerships

Taylor Hilditch – Account Director

Anna Heslop – Senior Account Manager

Matt Wallace – Senior Manager, Sport Partnerships

Christian Agliozzo – Manager, Sport Partnerships

Platform: Snapchat

Dan King - Senior Client Partner

Bethany Rao-Davies - Senior Account Manager

Haran Ramachandran - Head of Creative Strategy, APAC

Claus Stangl - Senior Creative Strategist

Chris Lewis - Senior Creative Producer

PR & Influencer: Mango

Tabitha Fairbairn – Managing Director

Ashleigh Vallance – Senior Account Director

Nada Duyker – Account Director

Sidney Balfour – Senior Account Manager

MyMacca’s app and POS: Akcelo

April Tunstall – Business Lead

Melanie Tozer – Senior Account Director

Alex Kostiouk – Senior Project Manager

CRM: Digitas

David Huang – Account Director