McDonald’s has been an official global Olympic sponsor since 1976, yet 36 years on very serious questions were being asked about the role of the world’s biggest fast food company in the world’s largest sporting event.

McDonald’s needed recognition for its commitment to sponsoring 10 Olympic games and to make use of this historic partnership to show the good it does to a vast array of stakeholders – including global consumers, staff, athletes, and not least the Olympic movement itself.

We needed a unifying idea that could work across all these groups. The idea developed was:

For the Olympic Spirit in us all.

This idea provided us an executional platform that allowed us to speak to every one of our intended audiences – across the globe and in many languages - with exactly the same voice.

The campaign began online with a consumer film that then ran on TV across the world.

We then worked with McDonald’s global marketing and HR departments to develop and communicate a unique McDonald’s London 2012 Olympic initiative. In exactly the way countries send the best of their best to the Olympics, we brought 200 of McDonald’s best of their best to London to experience and work at the games.

During the Olympics we created five films, in almost real time, to show the passion for excellence shared among Olympic athletes and McDonald’s staff.

The films were viewable on both a campaign site and very many of McDonald’s global social media pages within hours of being shot. Meaning that fans across the world were able to experience Olympic London, but also learn about the excellent opportunities McDonald’s affords its employees. It’s less a McJob and more a McBoondoggle.

Among the media frenzy of the Olympics, gaining cut through is very difficult. Yet, with this campaign we did exactly that. Of all the official worldwide sponsors of London 2012 McDonald’s was the most talked about in the social space during the Olympic period. And that’s a list that includes Coca Cola, Samsung and Visa.

Internally, McDonald’s considered the campaign to be among the most successful global Olympic campaigns of all time. Special praise was also given for the effect it had on the perceptions of working for McDonald’s, and the new found respect it provided many of their staff that make their restaurants such beloved places to eat.