Watch above or read below.

Matthew Burns:
So Steve, you brought up something magical that after I did the research, because you brought…

Stephen Semple:
Can you sing it? Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun. But you’ve got to actually sing it to remember it.

Matthew Burns:
You have to sing it to remember it, right? Echoic memory is so powerful. And now here’s the thing. 1972, it was a print campaign at colleges.

Stephen Semple:
Yes.

Matthew Burns:
I was born in 1972 in November, but watch this. Two all the patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun. How do I know this?

Stephen Semple:
It also on television though. It was on television.

Matthew Burns:
Yeah, no, no. And then in 1974, it ran for, I think, about a year and a half on television.

Stephen Semple:
Yeah, it was like a couple of years. It did not run long.

Matthew Burns:
At all. Okay, but you’ve still got to explain to me, how the hell do I know? I know it so intrinsically.

Stephen Semple:
So a few years ago, I’m meeting with a client in California and a new president had been put into position in this business. And we got talking about the power of jingles.

Matthew Burns:
Right.

Stephen Semple:
He said, for singing, not necessarily jingles, just singing things. And he said, “Well, how powerful is it? ” And I looked at everybody in the room. Now, this guy was from South Africa. I looked at everybody in the room and I said, “What’s in a Big Mac?”
And everybody in the room could do it.

And then I said to him, “Here’s the interesting thing. I looked at one person who was young. They never saw the ad.” And they were like, “What?” I said, “Yeah.” And they were like, “Oh no, I saw the ad.” I said, “No, you didn’t because here’s when it ran.” And then it turned out there was another person who was an immigrant who said, “Yeah, I never saw the ad either because they weren’t American.”

And I was like, isn’t this interesting? Because somewhere along the lines in our lexicon, so many people knew it and so many people went to McDonald’s and here’s how I think you know it. This is just a guess. You’re in the drive-through with your buddies at McDonald’s. Somebody goes, “I’m going to have a Big Mac: Two all beef patties… ” Right? Everybody just did it. Okay. But that was probably even more powerful because now it’s grounded as a shared experience with your buddies.

Matthew Burns:
Yes. Listen, and I agree with you on all of that. The other thing that they did really well, so well that in New York City, they ran out of sesame seed buns. No, and I’m not joking. There was a point in time where they just couldn’t keep up. They made it into a contest where if you could recite that, sing the jingle at the counter in four seconds or less-

Stephen Semple:
You got a free Big Mac.

Matthew Burns:
You get a free Big Mac. Yes. So which means that people were-

Stephen Semple:
So how many teenagers were trying to do that?

Matthew Burns:
Well, no, that’s what I’m saying, right? They were just Pavlovian at that point. Do you know what I mean? Yes. So I think that because so many people had to memorize it because they wanted a free Big Mac, they went crazy remembering it. Guess what, it’s now in our lexicon.

Stephen Semple:
You had to practice it to do it in four seconds.

Matthew Burns:
I’ve got to play the ad.

 

Announcer:
McDonald’s Big Mac. It’s more than just another hamburger. There are two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun. Seven great ingredients working together to make one great taste. Two all beef patties, special sauce, cheese, lettuce, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Get the idea.

Singing:
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions and a sesame seed bun.

Announcer:
It’s your McDonald’s Big Mac. You’ve got to taste it to believe it. You know what I mean?

Singing:
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun.

Girl:
Two all beef patties…

Man:
Let me say a few words about McDonald’s Big Mac. It’s-

Singing:
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun.

Girl:
Two all. Well, what was that word again?

Singing:
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun.

Girl:
Cheese pickles oh, what am I saying?

Singing:
You deserve a break today at McDonald’s.

Announcer:
Where your dollar gets a break every day.

Matthew Burns:
Lettuce, cheese, wait [laughter]. But that’s what it would have been like for everybody who was trying to memorize it to win.

Stephen Semple:
And suddenly listening to a kid doing that, it’s now actually a shared freaking experience. Because we were trying to do that because we wanted a free Big Mac.

Matthew Burns:
Again, there’s about 10 years between us. You’re a little bit older than I am, maybe not quite 10 years. And in high school, beginning grade nine, I think grade 10, I had to memorize Shylock’s speech from the merchant of Venice. Okay. To remember Shylock’s speech in the merchant of Venice was daunting because I hated Shakespeare. And now I much more appreciate them now, but I hated Shakespeare at the time. And if you asked me to, I could give you the entire-

Stephen Semple:
Yeah, still today.

Matthew Burns:
Because of the practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. And to do that well, and you know this because this is what you taught me was when you want to deliver a speech or a presentation, what do you got to do? You read it to a recorder, you read it to a recorder and you play it back, back, back, and then you say it today and you play it back, back, back. So zero flaws. You do it again with the singing.

Stephen Semple:
Correct.

Matthew Burns:
Well, guess what? McDonald’s did to us. They frigging brain-ninjaed us so that we never forget what’s in their gosh darn Big Macs.

Stephen Semple:
So that is the power. Now people have used it with jingles. And the problem sometimes with jingles is we tune out because we know it’s a jingle. So we know it’s an ad. We kind of tune out. It’s the power of singing. It’s the reason why if you want kids to remember, my kids can still sing the song that they were taught in kindergarten for the order in which you put your boots and your mitts and your coat on.

Matthew Burns:
That’s awesome.

Stephen Semple:
Because they would have the kids sing it, right? Yeah. I can’t remember the song, but if they were here, if Crystal or Jennifer were here, they’d be able to sing you that song and it’s like, and the mittens go on last, right? Because little kids do the crap in the wrong order. So you get them to sing a song. And they sing in the song while they’re doing it and it’s repetitive and it drives into memory.

This is a powerful tool that can be used in advertising when it’s used appropriately. And the example of the one where I was at the meeting that we had created this song that was so sticky, people were having their kids calling in and singing the song.

Matthew Burns:
And this guy- Oh, you’re talking about the Bonnie campaign.

Stephen Semple:
Talk about the Bonnie campaign. Yeah. But the internal marketing person and this new person was like, “But the kids, the kids aren’t, they don’t buy air conditioners.” I go, “But the kids are singing the song all day long to their parents.” Guess what? Guess what those kids have made unforgettable in the parents’ mind.

Matthew Burns:
Absolutely.

Stephen Semple:
Our company. Absolutely. We own the mind. We own the mind of our customer in that moment.

Matthew Burns:
Correct. And remember, and now Steve, you weren’t on this episode, but we did the Winston Cigarettes, Winston-Salem. Oh my God, that’s a town, by the way. With the Winston Cigarettes campaign-

Stephen Semple:
A little different history.

Matthew Burns:
With Dave Young from the Empire Builders Podcast, he talked all about echoic memory in that one and how their jingle, which was written first and then created into a jingle for advertising. And that’s back in 1950 and now gosh, darn it, I can still sing that one because I just did it once with Dave on the show.

Stephen Semple:
Right. Yes. So it’s a really, really powerful thing, but again, it’s one of those ones it’s like writing dialogue. When it fails, it fails miserably. So it takes a lot of talent to do it. And what I also commend that McDonald’s did is normally repeating your company name or your jingle or whatever it is over and over and over and over again.

Normally people tune out, but it was so brilliant because it was that shared experience of the kid trying to remember it that allowed them… It was brilliant, allowed them to do it over and over and over again. Over and over. Because he’s struggling to do it just like I was.

Matthew Burns:
And you know what’s funny? I don’t know if you noticed, and guys, go back and listen to it again, but the announcer at the beginning, so he says, “Our two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and it’s on a sesame seed bun.” And then he goes and he repeats it, but he repeats it wrong because he says it’s lettuce.

Stephen Semple:
Yes, he does repeat it wrong.

Matthew Burns:
Right. And I was like, “That’s brilliant because then all of a sudden that makes it harder and easier at the same time to remember.”

Stephen Semple:
Well, because when I heard it, do you want to know what went through my head?

Matthew Burns:
No.

Stephen Semple:
Because I had not seen that ad in a long time. What went through my head is, oh, I guess I remembered it wrong. Oh, interesting. Seriously, that’s what went … I’d be like, wait a minute. I guess I had remembered it in the wrong order. And then of course went through, I was like, oh no, you delivered it wrong. Right.

Matthew Burns:
I don’t know if you remember for Dr. Milkie, Waukee Feet. I wrote a campaign where I made him sing lines from a popular song and I made him sing the lines wrong.

Stephen Semple:
Oh, right. Yes.

Matthew Burns:
Because I wanted to get that attention from the audience. So it’s just, “Hey, no,”

Stephen Semple:
Pattern interrupt.

Matthew Burns:
Pattern interrupt. Exactly. Okay.

Stephen Semple:
Yeah. Cool.

Matthew Burns:
But they did something that we talk about sometimes, which is they didn’t just shelve it.

Stephen Semple:
Well, they sort of did it and then sort of didn’t.

Matthew Burns:
I know. Okay. Here, let me play the ad first. Guys, cantankerous Stephen is coming out. Give me one second. Watch this revival in Australia, 1984, 85. Watch this.

 

Announcer:
If you can say-

Singing:
“Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuces, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun.”

Announcer:
In four seconds, you can win a free cup of Coke. It’s that simple. Just say-

Woman:
It’s two all beef patty special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

Announcer:
In four seconds, and you can win a free cup of Coke.

Singing:
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuces, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun.

Woman:
It’s two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

Announcer:
Say it in four seconds and win a free cup of Coke at McDonald’s.

Matthew Burns:
All right, Steve, go ahead.

Stephen Semple:
Well, what drives me nuts is the campaign was win a free Big Mac. The original, yes. I bet you they ran that on Australia and they went, “Oh, this campaign didn’t work quite as well.” Why? And it would all been driven by the bean counters.

Well, we don’t want to give away a $2 burger or let’s give it… What’s the cheapest thing we give away is a Coke. Well, guess what? I don’t like Coke. Right. So would I go in now and sing the Big Mac jingle? No. And now we’re advertising two things.

Matthew Burns:
Two things.

Stephen Semple:
The burger and Coke. It’s like, morons.

Matthew Burns:
Yes.

Stephen Semple:
Stop it already. Yes. It’s a $2 burger. Really that’s going to break the… Because they probably looked at it and said, “This campaign was so successful in New York, they ran out of burgers. So you know what we’re going to do is we’re not going to give away a burger.”

And then I bet you the campaign, I would bet my bottom dollar. They’d go, “Well, you know it didn’t work because Australians are different than Americans.” That’s what they would say. And no, it’s because you’re giving away a Coke you dumbass.

Matthew Burns:
I’m going to let you cross promote here. Okay?

Stephen Semple:
Okay.

Matthew Burns:
Empire Builders, you did an episode on DeBeers talking about the exact same thing. About take a campaign… Now they did it right.

Stephen Semple:
They took the campaign exactly. They took it to Japan.

Matthew Burns:
Right. So different language, different culture, different everything.

Stephen Semple:
And it worked because basically Japan … So what happened when DeBeers created the Diamonds Are Forever campaign, diamonds were not the most popular thing to give as engagement. They were a niche product. And then it became like 80% of engagement rings were diamonds. They looked at Japan. Japan was the same thing. They took the ad to Japan. It worked.

The shape of the growth was exactly the same as what happened in America. And then they took it to China. And if you ask people in Asia, “Are the Japanese and Chinese culturally the same?” Hell no.

Matthew Burns:
Exactly.

Stephen Semple:
And guess what happened? Same crew. Same thing. But they didn’t mess with it. They ran it as close as they possibly could to the original. And so you know what? What works, works. But don’t think a little change like, “Oh, we’ll do a Coke rather than a Big Mac.” That won’t change anything. Little changes actually often have big impacts.

Matthew Burns:
Yeah. So okay, so we’re going to wrap this up. So real quick, awesome job, McDonald’s, for coming up with a earworm and forcing people to memorize the damn thing because I never saw the ad and I got sucked into your world because I can sing the damn thing, but run a campaign that works here. You can run it anywhere. It’s literally the easiest way to scale.

Stephen Semple:
But don’t change it.

Matthew Burns:
But don’t change it at all. Keep it the same.

Stephen Semple:
Yes.

Matthew Burns:
Because then you can’t even determine whether or not it’s working well because you’ve made a difference. You made a change. There’s no A/B testing at all. You don’t know.

Anyway, this one was a lot of fun. Thanks for showing me how psychologically I’ve been trained by McDonald’s. Guys, if you’d like this one, let us know in the comments and like share all that stuff and we will see you on the next sticky sales story.

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