Celebrating 35 Years with an Iconic Brand
1975: The Egg McMuffin was introduced and McDonald’s hired Fahlgren
Fahlgren Advertising and Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations are celebrating our 35th anniversary as agency of record for McDonald’s Restaurants in parts of Florida, Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan. With reports out showing the average agency relationship being two years or less, we are particularly grateful.
The celebration began two weeks ago with an Egg McMuffin breakfast with all of our associates in our Columbus headquarters. We felt it was only fitting to have Egg McMuffins because this iconic breakfast sandwich was introduced nationally in 1975, the year we began working with McDonald’s.
As part of the celebration Neil Mortine, CEO of Fahlgren, issued a challenge to our associates to see who could do the best Big Mac Chant, “Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.”
Fahlgren team members were videotaped in Cincinnati and Columbus Ohio as well as in Ft. Lauderdale singing the chant. As a tribute to our great clients, the celebratory video was featured as part of the awards ceremony at The Hyatt O’Hare in Chicago last week. Just as in the original McDonald’s TV commercials featuring folks doing the chant there are some really funny takes. Fifteen of our McDonald’s account team members and H. Smoot Fahlgren, our agency’s founder, were on hand to receive the award wearing a 35th Fahlgren anniversary pin designed for us by McDonald’s.
I feel fortunate to have been a part of the history of one of the world’s leading food service retailers, with more than 32,000 restaurants serving more than 60 million people in more than 100 countries every day. During our 35-year journey we’ve enjoyed many successes and memories together from restaurant and Ronald McDonald House openings, 22-new product tests or introductions, six new advertising campaigns, and we also were the host agency for the 2009 and 2010 McDonald’s All-American High School Basketball Games in Miami, Florida and Columbus, Ohio which was a first as no McDonald’s regional agency has ever hosted games back to back.
It’s been really fun to reminisce the last month with Peter Craig, SVP and Account Director in our Cincinnati office, who has been on the account 30years or six months longer than I have been working on the business. Because of the locations of the advertising Co-Ops we handle for McDonald’s it’s been extremely interesting and many times challenging because two of our co-ops are located in the hometowns of Wendy’s and Burger King, their two largest competitors. Here’s a quick look at what we’ve shared with McDonald’s during the years:
- 25th & 50 Anniversaries of McDonald’s
- 25th Anniversary of both the Happy Meal and Ronald McDonald House ( Columbus Ohio is home to the second largest Ronald House in the World)
- Ronald McDonald House Children’s Charities
- The first All-American High School Basketball Game
- All-American High School Band
- Ronald at The Macy’s Day parade
- Monopoly
- Dollar Menu
And, here’s a look at what we’ve introduced or tested as an agency for McDonald’s over 35 years:
- Sausage McMuffins
- Bagels McGriddles
- Chicken McNuggets
- McChicken Sandwich
- Salads
- Pizza
- Toasted Deli Subs
- McCafe
- Premium Angus Burgers
- Premium Chicken Sandwiches
- Snack Wraps
- Chopped Beef Steak
- Big & Tasty
- McDLT
- Cuban Sandwich,
- McCafe
- Sweet Tea
- Frappes & Smoothies
- Cinnamon Melts & Brownie Melts
- McFlurries
- Baked Apple Pies