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McDonald's UK uses music-mixing website as part of burger promotion

McDonald's continues its 'Great Tastes of America' promotion in the UK by letting visitors create customized soundtracks on the web. It's one of the several examples of crowdsourcing that McDonald's has been building momentum for in its European markets. 

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Gene J. Puskar/AP/File
The McDonald's Golden Arches logo on a window at a McDonald's restaurant in Robinson Township, Pa. In the UK, McDonald's is using a digital music-mixing site as part of a burger promotion.

McDonald’s once again is paying homage to the home of the burger with the “Great Tastes of America” promotion it has run for the past few years in the UK. But this time it has taken the program up a beat, celebrating music as well as burgers.

Agency Razorfish/London has equipped the chain with a “Fresh Beats” digital music-mixing site that allow visitors to create soundtracks with customized beats and sound loops. Further, the music effects change in each of the promotion’s five weeks, pegged to the U.S. city and burger being spotlighted. The first burger was the Chicago Supreme (beef, cheese, bacon, cool mayo and spicy salsa), followed through May 13 by the Nevada Grande (chili mayo, crispy onions, shredded lettuce, cheese and sweet tomato sauce on a chili-topped lattice bun). 

Remaining burgers in the promotion are the Texas BBQ (beef patty, bacon, “sticky BBQ sauce,” crispy onions, shredded lettuce and cheese on a sesame-topped bun), New York Classic (beef patty, bacon, ketchup, mustard, red onion, mayo, shredded lettuce and cheese on a chive-and-sesame-topped bun) and Memphis Special (beef patty, shredded lettuce, cheese, coleslaw and smoky BBQ sauce on a chili-topped bun).

Razorfish Creative Director Anders Plyhm told British site TheDrum.com, which first reported the story, “We wanted to create something that people could get involved with. Something that allows them to get in the mood for a great American burger. We’ve built a fun, intuitive interface and one we think McDonald’s fans will thoroughly enjoy.”

Razorfish is unit of Publicis, which also owns Leo Burnett, McDonald’s agency of record in the UK. Razorfish earlier created the “My Burger” campaign for McDonald’s in Germany, which invited consumers to invent the next LTO. This crowdsourcing approach to the menu has since been exported to several other European markets.

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