I’m lovin’ it

Happy 22nd birthday to one of the most effective marketing campaigns of all time.

Of all the many successful marketing campaigns McDonald’s has ever run, it’s hard to imagine anything better or more important than three simple words: “I’m lovin’ it.”

McDonald’s launched the global “I’m lovin’ it” campaign in the U.S. on September 29, 2003 (it actually got a head start in Germany by a few weeks; “I’m lovin’ it” is “Ich Liebe Es” in German).

Eventually, it expanded to more than 100 countries around the world. It’s still the company’s official slogan, 22 years later.

Contrast that against the fact that the longest McDonald’s kept a single slogan in place before “I’m lovin’ it” was four years.

Here’s the story of the slogan, and how it kinda/sorta saved the company.

McDonald’s Had a Problem

I’ll bet you’ll hear the five note jingle from “I’m lovin’ it,” even just from these five “words,” such as they are: “ba da ba ba ba.”

But before that ear worm worked its way into our collective global subconscious, McDonald’s was a brand in trouble. As Larry Light, who was McDonald’s global CMO at the time, later put it:

“The brand was in serious decline. McDonald’s was ailing with dismal morale among employees.

McDonald’s was under attack from the media. … McDonald’s stock price declined from the $40’s to under $15. Customers perceived the McDonald’s brand as no longer relevant. …

And, franchisees lost confidence in the leadership.”

Light recalled that McDonald’s did three things to turn the situation around. The first two keys, “financial discipline” and “operational excellence,” were out of his control.

But the third key focus — “leadership marketing” — was right in his job description.

Don’t tell me what to do!

Light, who passed away in 2024, also recalled that many of the previous McDonald’s campaigns had involved McDonald’s trying to dictate actions or feelings to its customers — in a nice way, I suppose, but an authoritarian one nonetheless.

Campaigns like “McDonald’s is your kind of place,” and “It’s a good time for the great taste of McDonald’s,” had been successful at one time, he said, but they wouldn’t work with younger generations:

“Telling isn’t selling. Our customers did not want to hear and did not want to be told what to do or how to feel.

They did not want a corporation telling them how great they are and that customers should appreciate what McDonald’s does for them. Customers can think and speak for themselves.

Don’t tell me I “deserve a break today.” I know I do. Why should I take my break at McDonald’s?”

One result of the analysis McDonald’s did at the time, was that it decided to run a big competition among advertising agencies all around the world to find a new direction.

The one that won, and came up with “I’m lovin’ it,” was Heye & Partner, a small agency located in a 1,000-year-old town in Germany.

Of course, there was much more to it than that. The month before, The Wall Street Journal revealed how Heye & Partner landed the deal, and included a juicy clue to how McDonald’s planned to jump start the campaign:

In a move that may win the hearts of teens and ‘tweens, McDonald’s is wooing pop star Justin Timberlake, according to people from both camps.

In fact, McDonald’s paid Timberlake $6 million to record a song (co-produced by Pharrell Williams) called (what else): “I’m Lovin’ It.”

It was a hit both in the U.S. and Europe before the campaign really started, thus hooking the phrase in young people’s heads ahead of time.

I’ll include the video at the end of this newsletter; as you’ll see, it doesn’t mention or show McDonald’s at all.

For what it’s worth, Timberlake later said, “I regret the McDonald’s deal. … [M]arket share went up by 25 per cent when I walked into those offices and changed their image.”

Lessons for today

I admit that when I first saw this anniversary coming up, I thought perhaps I’d learn that 22 years with the same slogan was some kind of record.

As it turns out, not at all.

• The New York Times has used “All the News That’s Fit to Print” for 128 years.

• Heck, Rolling Stone has used “All the News that Fits” for 56 years.

• Wheaties cereal has been the “Breakfast of Champions” since 1933, and DeBeers started telling people that “A Diamond Is Forever” in 1947.

Still, if you want to learn how to become a great marketer, study the history of McDonald’s.

“I’m lovin’ it” offers a lot of important lessons in particular. Among them:

• Relevance beats irrelevance.

• Simple lines often work best — especially if they’re memorable.

• If something ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

As Light wrote back in 2020: “This unique combination of sound, graphic and words has endured for 17 years.”

Actually, make that 22 years — and counting.

Here’s the Justin Timberlake video that kick-started the campaign. Let me know if you remember it.

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7 other things worth knowing

• Former FBI Director James Comey is expected to be indicted on criminal charges in the coming days in federal court in Virginia, MSNBC reported. Comey for years has been a target of President Donald Trump, who fired him as FBI director early in his first term in the White House. Trump in a social media post Saturday, had called Comey “guilty as hell” as he raged about the lack of charges against the former FBI leader. (CNBC)

• The National Park Service removed a statue of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands from the National Mall early Wednesday morning, a day after it was placed there and several days before its permit was suppposed to expire at 8 p.m. on September 28. The White House did not respond to emails seeking comment on the statue’s removal. (Wash Post)

• A sniper died from a self-inflicted gunshot early Wednesday morning after he shot three ICE detainees at a Dallas ICE facility from a rooftop, according to law enforcement. At a news conference, officials confirmed one victim had died, and two others were taken to the hospital. There were reports that a second victim had died at the hospital, but officials would not confirm that. None of the victims are law enforcement officers, officials confirmed. (Fox 4 News)

• A new Quinnipiac University Poll released on Tuesday found 53% of citizens believe American democracy is not working right now, compared to 41% of Americans who believe the system is going fine. Other eye-grabbing results: 79% of American voters believe the U.S. is in a state of “political crisis,” and 71% of Americans believe political violence is a “very serious problem” — up from 54% who felt that way in June. (Mediaite)

• This is 36 hours old now, but: Jimmy Kimmel broke his silence in an emotional return to ABC’s airwaves, by turns defiant, joking and somber. Kimmel said he understood why his comments last week about the suspected shooter of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk seemed “ill-timed, or unclear, or maybe both.” But Mr. Kimmel also had harsh words for President Trump and FCC chairman Brendan Carr, saying that “a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American.” (New York Times)

• Gen Z’s New Symbol of Resistance: A Cartoon Jolly Roger. Protesters around the world hoist a flag from a hit Japanese pirate show to express disdain for authority. (WSJ)

• As housing costs rise beyond what many families can afford, more people are looking for shelter outside the traditional housing market. About 486,000 people live full time in an RV, twice as many as in 2021. About a third have children, and a vast majority earn less than $75,000 a year. (NBC News)

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Thanks for reading. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.