The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

March 31, 2016 | 2 min read

To celebrate the Ad Club of New York's 120th anniversary, The Drum is inviting readers to share their favorite marketing moments from the past 120 years.

Today’s marketing moment was chosen by Travis York, president and CEO of GYK Antler. Below, see why “The McDonald’s Menu Song” is his favorite marketing moment.

My favorite marketing moment occurred when I was around ten years old, and McDonald’s sent flexi-disc vinyl records through the mail featuring “The McDonald’s Menu Song.”

The discs also came with the opportunity to win $1,000,000. Their entire menu was put to a song, and you had to listen all the way through to see if you were a big winner. The audio teased that the song had to be completed by "the class" on the record, which kept the listeners thoroughly engaged.

I can explicitly remember our parents rigging the record player to play at 33 1/3 RPM and listening over and over again while we learned the lyrics. I also remember going to McDonald’s and performing the song for the employees.

Combining audio branding, direct marketing, a sweepstakes, drive-to-retail incentives and entertainment certainly worked as I can recite the damn song to this day - Big Mac, McBLT, a Quarter Pounder with some cheese.

See the full 120 Marketing Moments in the dedicated online section and find out how to purchase the exclusive book.

Marketing Moments GYK Antler McDonald's

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