This episode is the first of two about McDonald’s. 

You can’t talk long about audio branding without coming up against McDonald’s. Their current audio identity – I’m Lovin’ It – has been in use since 2003, and can be instantly recognised the world over. One of the only examples of brands who have been able to reproduce the theme in multiple arrangements, instrumentation and styles, yet still managing to maintain its instant recognisability. 

In this first of a two-part deep dive into one of audio-branding’s most singular success stories, Jamie Masters explores the sonic world of McDonald’s. With a long history of experimenting with re-recorded versions in almost every genre imaginable, McDonald’s audio-branding strategy has been much emulated but its success never replicated.