Watch above or read below.

Matthew Burns:
I get random texts of random ads and sometimes it’s just even pieces of ads. And I received this one, which is awesome by the way. So I’m glad you sent it to me. And right away I was like… Listen, it is awesome. At the time that we’re recording this guys, the Michael Jackson biopic is coming up and it’s the nephew of Michael Jackson playing him. I’m really looking forward to watching this thing. I have not seen it yet, but McDonald’s like, “Well, heck, we’re going to steal some thunder here because there’s nobody that’s better known in the entertainment industry than Michael Jackson.”

And they did this marvelous thing with the French fries where you can’t… It’s no different. You said this. I don’t want to take any credit, but you said that you said, Matt, you know Michael Jordan, when he flies through the air and they’ve got the silhouette of him, that’s iconic.

Nobody is going to say different. I think Shaq actually, Shaq has the same kind of a silhouette, but he’s slam dunking.

Stephen Semple:
Yeah, he’s got the two hands on the rim. Exactly.

Matthew Burns:
And then Michael Jackson up on his toes, and I can’t do it right, but I’m going to try. And he goes “Hee hee.”

Stephen Semple:
Yeah. Exactly.

Matthew Burns:
Some form of that. I’m sorry, Michael Jackson. I am so sorry. This is brilliant. I mean, they’ve done so much right here. Tell me why you sent this to me.

Stephen Semple:
So there’s a couple of things that make this billboard amazing. First of all, there’s a concept of back in the day we talked about his water cooler talk when everybody was in offices, but what is the conversation of the day? What’s things that are top of mind? Anytime at marketing, if you can tie into that, there’s a huge power.

So what are people talking about? The Michael Jackson movie. So could we create something around Michael Jackson? Now here’s the other brilliance of it. They didn’t have to pay anybody. They didn’t have to pay Michael Jackson. They didn’t have to pay anybody. This is two fricking French fries. We make up in our brain that it’s Michael Jackson.

Matthew Burns:
Correct.

Stephen Semple:
Which means any business, any business could have done this. Any business that did french fries could have done this.

Matthew Burns:
Correct.

Stephen Semple:
Anyone, including your local fry guy could have done it. Now, the only thing they would have done is they would’ve had to actually say the company name. Isn’t it interesting that as soon as I sent it to you, you were like, “Those are McDonald’s fries.” How do we know that?

Matthew Burns:
Dude. Come on. Are you kidding me? The golden arches are the same color as their French fries. It’s always shown on that red.

Stephen Semple:
And when I sent this to you, I didn’t say –

Matthew Burns:
You said nothing.

Stephen Semple:
Nothing. So here was my test. I sent nothing. I didn’t say, “Here’s a McDonald’s ad.” I said, “Boom, I just sent that. ” And you were immediately like, “Oh my God, that’s a McDonald’s ad.”

Matthew Burns:
And listen, and they’ve been really smart with the use of their logo and their branding.

Stephen Semple:
Yes.

Matthew Burns:
I mean, I think people are starting to get it. I think it makes sense, but branding isn’t your logo. Branding isn’t the truck. The branding isn’t the shirt you wear. Branding is all of that.

Stephen Semple:
Yes.

Matthew Burns:
And using all of it for its best purpose. And McDonald’s, they’ve used their branding in such good ways so that they can tell a story without having to go, “We’re McDonald’s.” And this one is topical water cooler talk back in the day, right? This is very timely. And they’re using somebody else’s icon.

Stephen Semple:
And not having to pay for it.

Matthew Burns:
For their own purpose with no royalties. And maybe you never know. Maybe they did pay the royalty. We don’t know, but I guarantee they don’t have to. They might’ve done it to be honorable. Corporations like to save money, so probably not. And if they didn’t, good for them. They’re brilliant. The way that the fry is cut so it looks like it’s on the tippy toes. The whole thing is… I keep looking off screen because I’m looking at it and I can’t see it without seeing a moonwalk. I can’t see this without hearing the “Hee hee”. I can’t see this without being flooded with more emotion.

Stephen Semple:
Yes. Positive fun. Take you back. All of those positive emotions, which now translate to positive emotions about McDonald’s. What do we want? We want people to like us and feel good about us. And the other part is leaving all those things out creates mental involvement. In other words, they’re now occupying this space in your brain because your brain is like, “Oh, that’s really cool.” And it’s filling in all the blanks and making all the associations and all those things. And it’s all made up. It’s two French fries.

Matthew Burns:
Stephen, you’ve said this in the past and I’m going to reiterate it. A brand lives in the mind of the consumer. It’s not what we tell you to think. It’s how you think.

Stephen Semple:
And the other part that I have to give McDonald’s really big credit on, no McDonald’s logo. They just trusted that you would immediately figure that out. They just absolutely trusted it, just like I trusted or I sent you. You weren’t like, “What is this? ”

Matthew Burns:
Yeah. Everything about this was brilliantly done. Guys, we don’t have a big lesson on this one. The lesson’s obvious. It’s be topical, use your brand for its best purpose. Be creative, guys. Just get creative. Have some fun. Be creative.

Stephen Semple:
If I was going to say any lesson on this, just be a little bit brave. Remember KitKat blew that bravery when they had the little guy taking a break and they couldn’t resist, but point out to everybody, “Oh look, there’s a little guy because you didn’t see it, right? McDonald’s would be like, you know what? If you don’t see it, you don’t see it. If you see it, you’re going to be thrilled. And if you see it, you’re going to tell everybody else and I’m going to let you tell everybody else.”

Stephen Semple:
That’s right.

Matthew Burns:
McDonald’s had bravery on this that if people didn’t figure it out, somebody would tell them. Be a little bit brave. And also recognize, you know what? The consumer will figure it out. They will. They’ll figure it out. They’re not stupid.

Matthew Burns:
I want to see these fries do the moonwalk now. I want to actually see a video of fries doing a moonwalk because I think they could still get away with that. You know what I mean? Anyway, this was fun for us. This one was for us more than it was for you guys. So we really appreciate you guys humoring us. And if you have any questions or if you… Guys, we’re always open for ideas. Send us your comments, questions. Give us an idea of one that you want to talk about.

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