McDonalds “Lovin’” New Viral Ad

Another day, another example of how YouTube is taking over the internet—this time, the site playing a lead role in the development of a viral ad for McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets.

Here’s the story. Two amateur comedians taped their own rap commercial for McNuggets, and put the video on YouTube.

Then, according to a July Boston Globe article , that viral ad eventually found its way to Chris Edwards, a creative director at Boston advertising agency Arnold. He had just been assigned to create a campaign aimed at young New Yorkers for McDonald’s Extra Value Meals, and the rap video fit perfectly.

Edwards contacted Fernando Sosa, one of the guys featured in the hilarious homemade commercial, who gave Edwards permission to use it for the campaign. 

Edwards kept the look and feel of a self-produced video too, convincing McDonald’s New York marketing director Ken Ebo to “try to make it organic and let it live in the space from which it came from so people could relate to it more.”

Apparently people can relate.

Sosa and his friend Matt Malinsky were shocked when they heard from Edwards, and have since received tons of calls about their ad—they’ve now added the beat-boxing skit about the McNuggets to their comedy routines, and were even interviewed about their commercial on the Fox News channel this summer.

Going viral is one thing. But how successful has this been from an advertising (e.g., sales) standpoint?

The Globe article noted that in the first two weeks that the ad played in New York, sales of McDonald’s McNuggets Extra Value Meals increased. Not only have the McNuggets been selling more, but, according to Ebo, “the buzz that has been generated has been substantial. I’ve heard radio station DJs chattering about it. You can’t pay for that.”

So next time you and your friends make a rap commercial about your favorite food, go ahead, put it on YouTube. You just never know…