McDonald’s Ad Features Craig Mack’s “Flava In Ya Ear”

Off top, this one isn’t an obvious example of tanning. A major corporation dropping a rap song in a commercial filled with African-Americans in an attempt to tap into the “urban” market isn’t exactly ground-breaking or all-inclusive. Target marketing is about as old as..well…marketing. At worst, this spot may be considered a bit generic.

To really grasp the underlining tanning taking place in McDonald’s latest Big Mac/Mac Snack ad, a brief foray into the annals of hip-hop history is necessary. In 1994, a visionary businessman and burgeoning label executive, Puff Daddy, came up with a novel marketing idea to promote two of his new acts: Craig Mack and The Notorious B.I.G. Craig Mack had just snagged a hit record with “Flava In Ya Ear,” which featured Biggie on the remix. To help push his two artists, Puff distributed CDs in actual McDonald’s Big Mac cartons—one side for Big, one side for Mack. It was a genius idea at the time, and helped build the buzz for one of the greatest emcees ever to do it: The Notorious B.I.G.

Although McDonald’s inclusion of Craig Mack’s “Flava In Ya Ear” is targeting a specific market, in a sense the company is paying tribute. Whether this homage is intentional is uncertain, but it is a complete role reversal. 17 years ago, Puffy leveraged Mickey D’s to sell his artists. 17 years later, Micky D’s is leveraging Diddy to sell its burgers. Watch the full spot below.





Source: www.TanningofAmerica.com

REWRITING THE RULES

LeBRON JAMES TAKES HIS TASTEBUDS TO McDONALD'S & PLAYS MONOPOLY

Golf Phenom Michelle Wie Also Stars in Fast Feeder's TV Spots


Many people may wonder, does LeBron James have a sense of humor about himself?


If the TV spots for McDonald's Monopoly sweepstakes have anything to say about it, the answer may be yes.


Mr. James and golf prodigy Michelle Wie will star in separate ads for the chain's 19th Monopoly promotion. The ads, created by DDB, Chicago, break Sept. 26 and run through the length of the promo, which lasts through October.

The spots focus on the one-in-four odds of winning at Monopoly, better odds than previous Monopoly promotions. (Most of the prizes are food, but there are cash prizes, as well as vacations, gift cards for Walmart, among other things.) In Mr. James' spot, the voice-over begins to say what the odds of LeBron James winning seven championships are, only to be interrupted by Mr. James, who says, "Aw, c'mon man." Then the voice-over adds, "Odds of LeBron winning a prize, one in four."

In Ms. Wie's ad, the voice-over says the chances of Ms. Wie hitting her next hole in one today are one in 50,000.

"Even non-golfers know that the odds of hitting a hole in one are long, so sports is a great way to juxtapose long odds with the one-in-four odds in Monopoly," said Douglas Freeland, marketing director and program lead for Monopoly at McDonald's.

With Mr. James, "we thought we'd have a little fun with him, and he was totally fine with teasing and poking a little fun at himself with the notion of the odds of winning seven championships," said Mr. Freeland, referring to Mr. James' grand claims that he'd win seven NBA championships with the Miami Heat, the team he joined after the much-groaned-about "Decision" to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers, which aired on ESPN in July 2010.

McDonald's will also promote Monopoly with radio, digital, as well as Facebook and Twitter, but Ms. Wie and Mr. James will only appear in the TV spots. Players can also visit the promotion online at PlayatMcD.com

In early 2010, both Mr. James and Ms. Wie signed endorsement deals with the world's largest quick-serve restaurant chain, but this is just the second ad McDonald's ad Mr. James has appeared in. His first ad aired for the 2010 Super Bowl and re-aired during this year's NBA Playoffs. In the spot, he and Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard star in a remake of the 1993 McDonald's spot "The Showdown," which featured Michael Jordan and Larry Bird in a shootout. Mr. James' other endorsement deals include Nike, State Farm, Upper Deck and Coca-Cola Co.

Mr. James' likability dropped in the wake of his decision to move to Miami, but it has slowly crept back up, according to the Marketing Arm's Davie Brown Index, an independently conducted survey that brand marketers and advertising agencies use to determine a celebrity's ability to influence consumer brand affinities and affect purchasing decisions. His appeal score on Aug. 29, 2010 was 58.65 -- down from 71.54 on May 24 of that year. It was up to 61.77 at the end of 2010, but has since dropped a bit to 57 as of June 19, a week after the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks.

Still, the move to poke fun at himself may be a smart one for his image. "It's another step in a rehabilitation of his image," said Jim Andrews, senior VP at IEG, a sponsorship, research and consulting firm. "It's a good reflection on both McDonald's and his parts to do the ad this way. He's gotten a lot of negative publicity, and this is another good way for him to say, 'maybe I have made some missteps.'"

In terms of awareness, Mr. James is known by more than 80% of all U.S. consumers, on par with Jennifer Aniston, Sissy Spacek, Arnold Palmer, David Beckham, Jeff Bridges and Gwen Stefani, according to DBI. Ms. Wie, though, is not quite as recognizable -- she's known by about 57% of U.S. consumers, about the same as Heidi Montag, Ving Rhames, Rob Lowe and Norah Jones.

For marketers, "the goal is to have athletes who transcend their sport," said Mr. Andrews. "She may not have gotten there yet, but she certainly has lots of potential."

Racial hoax causes PR headache for McDonald’s

An online hoax that falsely suggests McDonald's discriminates against African-American customers is causing a PR headache for the Golden Arches.

Over the weekend, the photograph above circulated widely on the internet. The image shows what looks like an official McDonald's notice in the window of a restaurant, telling customers that blacks will be charged $1.50 extra "as an insurance measure due in part to a recent string of robberies."

Many internet users retweeted the photo, using the words "Seriously McDonald's," to express their disapproval of the burger chain.

In response, McDonald's sent a tweet of its own on Saturday: "That pic is a senseless & ignorant hoax McD's values ALL our customers. Diversity runs deep in our culture on both sides of the counter."

But that clearly wasn't enough to clear things up, because Twitter users continued to send out the picture, with that same message of condemnation: "Seriously McDonald's." Indeed, so many people sent "Seriously McDonald's" Tweets that the phrase became a leading entry on Twitter's trend list.

That led to a second, blunter McTweet, on Sunday: "That Seriously McDonalds picture is a hoax."

The latest pushback effort seems to have helped keep the photo from spreading too much further--but there's no telling how many people out there still think the photo is for real.

This is hardly the only recent barrage of negative publicity for the burger behemoth--some of it more justified. McDonalds CEO Jim Skinner recently was forced to defend the company's renewed use of the Ronald McDonald mascot to appeal to children, after critics said the restaurant's fat-laden burgers and fries endanger kids' health.

It's not clear who created the hoax image. It appears to have first showed up on the popular 4chan message board, and it was posted last year on an anti-McDonald's blog.

But there's no doubt it's fake. As some Twitter users have pointed out, the toll-free number given at the bottom of the sign is actually the number for ... Kentucky Fried Chicken.

11-Year-Old Slams Ronald McDonald for Being an Ass-Clown

By Gabriel Beltrone of Adweek

Amid all the uncertainty over the impending apocalypse, rest assured that some things will always stay the same. Yesterday, doctors (again) blasted Ronald McDonald for making America's children fat, but McDonald's (again) defended its clown. Kids love him, and he stays, said CEO Jim Skinner, according to the Wall Street Journal. But while the grownups are busy fretting about the health of their offspring, the nation's more affluent tweens seem sharply uninterested in the mascot. In their precocious and world-weary view, he's a lame Pollyanna. "It's very fake, the whole, like, all his commercials, where he's jumping up and down, where he's always happy. You know that no one's always happy. It's silly," Mollie Kerr, an 11-year-old girl from the suburbs, tells the Journal. She adds: "We have, like, problems, we have earthquakes and tornadoes, we have money problems and financial problems. But in Ronald McDonald World, we have no problems, it's just happy all the time." Plus, his pants aren't anywhere near tight enough to be in line with the times, the young hipster notes. Given Mollie's acumen, and generally gloomy outlook, it's probably safe to guess she wouldn't think much of the brand's creepy talking lemon, either. UPDATE: Mollie may not be as much of a novice in media relations as we thought. She's the daughter of Drew Kerr, the PR executive and founder of Four Corners. Drew clearly has his hands full. He says: "Being the daughter of a PR consultant, all I can say is she has mastered the sound bite pretty well without my help. I'm looking forward to her debate with Christiane Amanpour next week on whether the Burger King is too happy in a world of unemployment and global warming."

INFLUENCERS :: STEVE STOUTE

INFLUENCERS in-depth Series / STEVE STOUTE from R+I creative on Vimeo.

INFLUENCERS In-depth Series features Steve Stoute, Founder and CEO of Translation, a brand management firm that arranges strategic partnerships between Pop Culture icons (Jay-Z, Gwen Stefani, Lebron James, Justin Timberlake, etc.) and Fortune 500 companies.


In this episode, Steve Stoute discusses the concept of cool, how new cultural codes are redefining traditional corporation communication. He also talks about creating successful collaborations between Artists and Brands.

Named one of the Fortune’s 40 under 40 list and inducted into the American Advertising Hall of Achievement (2009), Steve Stoute is one of today’s most influential forces in entertainment marketing. His client roster includes companies such as Samsung, State Farm, Mc Donald’s, Target, Wrigley’s, HP, P&G and artists such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna (management).

influencersfilm.com


facebook.com/​influencersfilm


twitter.com/​influencersfilm

A Brief History of Product Placement in Movies Edited by Oliver Noble

Coinstar and McDonald's Come Together For $20 Million Redbox Investment.

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Coinstar, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSTR) today announced an agreement with McDonald's Ventures, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), to invest in Redbox Automated Retail, LLC. Coinstar will invest $20 million in cash and will own a 47.3 percent share in Redbox. Redbox is the leading renter of DVDs through self-service kiosks with about 800 locations in the United States, including McDonald's restaurants and supermarket locations. The Redbox business has been in operation since 2002 and currently is a majority-owned subsidiary of McDonald's Ventures, LLC.

Redbox has more than three years of planning, customer testing, refinement and in-market operations experience. Redbox is capitalizing on the growth of the home video market that is expected to reach $42 billion by 2014 and the DVD self-service kiosk market segment with growth potential in excess of $3 billion by 2009.

Current U.S. locations where the Redbox service is available have delivered strong results with over three million DVDs rented over the last five months. Consumers have enthusiastically embraced the $1 per night price point, convenient return options and easy self-service operation of the kiosk.

"We are very excited about teaming up with McDonald's Ventures on this business," said Peter Rowan, vice president of new business innovation at Coinstar, Inc. "Redbox is a proven product that has already gained consumer and retailer acceptance in the United States. Further, Redbox is a great addition to our 4th Wall(TM) product portfolio that helps retailers increase traffic and profit at the front of their stores -- with no labor or cost requirements."

"Customers tell us they like having movies on our menu," said Chris Catalano, chief investment officer of McDonald's Ventures, LLC. "Partnering with Coinstar is an exciting next step that will enable the expansion of Redbox to more locations. Coinstar has had tremendous success building a complex network of self service kiosks. They understand the complexities and nuances of this business, and have excelled in delivering high profit per square foot services to retail customers."

Today, Redbox is available in select McDonald's restaurants and supermarkets across the country (a complete list of locations is available at www.redbox.com). Coinstar, Inc. will now serve as the exclusive sales agent for Redbox in the U.S. for supermarkets, mass merchandisers, drug stores and wholesale clubs.

Coinstar expects to invest $20 million in cash at the close of the transaction and another $12 million after one year if certain growth objectives are achieved. After the second year, Coinstar has a 12-month option to obtain additional shares acquiring a majority voting interest in the business. This transaction is expected to close in the next 30 days. Closing the transaction is contingent upon certain customary conditions including securing certain contractual consents.

Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, will continue to operate independently out of its headquarters in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. The company will be managed by a four-person board of directors in which two positions will be appointed by Coinstar, Inc. and two will be appointed by McDonald's Ventures, LLC.

Conference Call

Coinstar, Inc. announced that a conference call to discuss the proposed investment in Redbox Automated Retail, LLC will be broadcast live over the Internet today, Thursday, November 17, 2005, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The Webcast will be hosted at the "About Us - Investor Relations" section of Coinstar's Web site at http://www.coinstar.com/.

About Coinstar, Inc.

Coinstar, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSTR) is a multi-national company offering a range of 4th Wall(TM) solutions for the retailers' front of store consisting of self-service coin counting, electronic payment solutions, and entertainment services. The company's products and services can be found at more than 57,000 retail locations including supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchants, convenience stores, and restaurants. For more information, visit http://www.coinstar.com/.

About McDonald's Ventures, LLC

McDonald's Ventures, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of McDonald's Corporation. McDonald's Ventures manages the investments McDonald's holds in future oriented growth initiatives including Chipotle, Boston Market, Redbox and Pret A Manger.

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to Coinstar, Inc.'s anticipated growth and future operating results that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "goals," variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from the results expressed or implied in such statements. Differences may result from actions taken by Coinstar, Inc., as well as from risks and uncertainties beyond Coinstar, Inc.'s control. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the effect of the purchase of interest in Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, the ability to bring new and repeat customers to Coinstar(R) machines, the ability to obtain new agreements with potential retail partners for the installation of Coinstar units and the retention of the current agreements with our existing retail partners on terms that are not materially adverse to the company, additional potential competitors, legal or governmental regulatory action and uncertainties relating to the ultimate success of new business initiatives (including prepaid services), including but not limited to the ability to attract customers and reach agreements with retail and other partners. The foregoing list of risks and uncertainties is illustrative, but by no means exhaustive. For more information on factors that may affect future performance, please review the most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Coinstar, Inc. These forward-looking statements reflect Coinstar, Inc.'s expectations as of November 17, 2005. Coinstar, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update the information provided herein.

Posted by Matt "The Mayor" Verden

MACFRIES PEDESTRIAN CROSSING

Advertising Agency: TBWA\Zurich, Switzerland

Creative Directors: Michael Kathe, Martin Friedlin

Art Director: Dominique Magnusson

Copywriter: Michael Kathe

Art Buyer: Christina Hengstmann

Account Manager: Guido Zehnder

STEVE STOUTE/TRANSLATION ADVERTISING FEATURED IN TIME MAGAZINE

Translation featured in TIME Magazine:

Translation Advertising: Where Shop Meets Hip-Hop

Steve Stoute, the marketing force behind boutique advertising shop Translation, has made a living by pretty much ignoring the barriers Madison Avenue has traditionally drawn around demographics and ethnicity.

Ten years ago, Stoute left the music business — just before it tanked — and jumped into advertising and marketing. He saw an opportunity to navigate the gap that existed between corporate America and the lucrative youth market, an estimated $1.2 trillion sector that companies are eager to tap into but frequently miss the mark reaching. “Brands don’t often speak to young people in a way that is representative of them,” says Stoute. “What I do is contemporize a brand.” But, he says, “I don’t take the brand away from what it stands for. I don’t change who they are in order to appeal to the next generation.”

CLICK HERE FOR :: STEVE STOUTE IN TIME MAGAZINE

BIG CITY DREAMS MAY NOT EQUAL BIG ENDORSEMENT DOLLARS

McDONALD'S :: COME AS YOU ARE :: DARTH VADER, KING KONG

McDONALD'S STEAM TRANSIT SHELTER :: HAVE YOU HAD YOUR COFFEE TODAY

A steam machine was built to fit inside a transit shelter and periodic bursts revealed a message during a free coffee promotion at McDonald’s.

McDONALD's LAUNCHES "I'M LOVIN' IT" 2.0 CAMPAIGN

Fast-Feeder Reboots 7-Year-Old Campaign in Wake of Massive Sales and Share Gains...

After more than a year of consumer research and agency brainstorming, McDonald's global chief marketing officer unveiled an updated take on its iconic, 7-year-old "I'm Lovin' It" campaign today before an audience of 15,000 franchisees, marketers and suppliers.

"I'm Lovin' It" is now the company's most successful and longest-running campaign, surpassing the iconic "You deserve a break today," and "Food, Folks and Fun," both in longevity and sales gains. The tagline actually predates CMO Mary Dillon, who took over McDonald's global marketing in 2005. "If you look at the business success, there would have been no reason" for changing the campaign, she said in a subsequent interview, "except for ego."

"All across our system, our marketing leaders and agencies in the U.S., Europe, [Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa], Latin America, and Canada, we're building on our multibillion-dollar asset -- 'I'm Lovin It' -- and making it even better," Ms. Dillon told the audience, according to prepared remarks. "We're bringing it out from behind the arches and into the action to better brand and celebrate those uniquely McDonald's moments." New spots end with the tagline appearing by itself, and the arches appearing later.

"Even more importantly," Ms. Dillon continued, "we're making sure that we build both brand equity and drive sales with every piece of advertising." She described an approach that's more authentic, more saturated in consumer insights and emotion, and within "a framework that gives us a consistent point of view about our brand."

Besides, with different iterations in 117 countries and dozens of languages, wholesale changes are very expensive. "Launching and seeding awareness of a new tagline is a major financial undertaking," Ms. Dillon said. "You'd have to be very sure that you needed to do that" to ensure future success of the business.

Lifting the bar on global creative

While news of the upcoming reboot sparked speculation that McDonald's may be scrapping the campaign and starting fresh, Ms, Dillon said the campaign was still working, and so she charged the chain's biggest agency partners with making it better. Those included in the huddle: Omnicom's DDB Worldwide, TBWA and OMD; Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett Worldwide, Publicis, Brazil's Taterka (in which Publicis owns a 5% stake), and independent Cossette in Canada.

The result is advertising expected to lift the bar on McDonald's creative around the world, said Mark Tutssel, global chief creative officer, Leo Burnett Worldwide. The work also appears to be funnier, more emotional and better grounded in a storyline.

For example, a Leo Burnett spot for the U.S. market sure to garner attention features a father bear treating his cub son to McDonald's after getting all A's on his report card (subjects include fishing and mangling). For them, that means using the cub as a decoy to attract a passing car so the father can then scare the passengers away. The pair eats McDonald's french fries that the tourists had been munching on along their scenic drive. There's even a lesson: Papa bear shakes the car to get a stray fry from the floorboard, and then tosses the vehicle. "There's always an extra fry at the bottom," he said.

And while this is a different take on what's been McDonald's everyday communication, Mr. Tutssel said it communicates key points such as family bonding, and fun with food. It also helps with unenviable task of getting marketing up to speed with the "I'm Lovin' It" promise.

Another U.S. spot, from DDB, depicts a woman returning from a trip, looking for her boyfriend in the airport, but spotting another man with a bag of McDonald's. When her boyfriend arrives, with flowers, she is polishing off her meal with the stranger. She looks at him and shrugs contentedly.

Yesterday, McDonald's reported second-quarter earnings that confounded Wall Street expectations, while same-store grew 3% globally, and surged a stunning 6% in the U.S. Ms. Dillon said she and her team take this as a sign that the advertising is doing what it's supposed to do.

McDONALD'S NAMES FIRST SOCIAL MEDIA CHIEF

Hire of Rick Wion, Founding Member of Digital Task Force, Comes After a Year Spent Devising Strategies...

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- McDonald's is ramping up its social-media efforts in the U.S., naming its first director-social media, Rick Wion.

Mr. Wion, who hails from GolinHarris Chicago, has handled social-media projects for McDonald's since 2006. He was a founding member of the McDonald's Digital Task Force, which established the company's digital strategy.

In an interview, Mr. Wion said his marching orders are three-fold: using social media to build the business, manage customer problems, and beef up outreach to target groups such as mommy bloggers. Mr. Wion will work with the fast feeder's U.S. media relations team, and will soon have support staff. Mr. Wion will report to Heather Oldani, director-external communications and public relations.

Ms. Oldani said that Mr. Wion's hire is the capstone to a full year spent devising a dedicated social-media strategy, assessing opportunities and establishing a method of determining ROI in the space. "Now it's time to have [someone] dedicated 100% of the time, rather than someone who's got a day job on top of a day job."

His first McDonald's social-media project, back in 2006, involved a publicity tour for Sarah Ferguson and Ronald McDonald House Charities for which he and his team developed a travel journal. More recently, Mr. Wion was involved in establishing the McDonald's Twitter handle, @mcdonalds, and establishing the process for responding to consumer complaints, among other things. The team has also put in place regulations for regional markets looking to set up their own feeds, like @mcdonalds_cincy. Regions must, for instance, identify their area in the handle in the event there's a promotion in Cincinnati that isn't going on in Philadelphia.

One of Mr. Wion's first major projects will be stepped-up outreach to mommy bloggers, which the chain has been courting for several years through its Moms Quality Correspondents. McDonald's will be reaching out to the group in a variety of ways this summer, Ms. Oldani said.

At Golin, where Mr. Wion was VP-social media, he developed social-media strategies for other major marketers including Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and BP. He also consulted with clients on alternative uses for social media, including FDA-regulated pharmaceutical marketing. Prior to Golin, Mr. Wion was director-client technology at Smithbucklin Corp., where he advised clients in digital marketing, e-commerce and content development.

The Dean's Notes: I'm glad to see McDonald's lead the way for creating a new module and implement an entire division and appoint a specific individual to oversee how McDonald's interact with it's loyal patrons through social media.

McDONALD'S ENFORCES A DRESS CODE!!!

Access is hard at work creating ideas and concepts for some high profile brands. For McDonald’s, we envision a cool, surprising and fun mix of concepts. First is McFancy, an upmarket temporary McDonald’s store that launches at Fashion Weeks around the globe — London, New York, Paris, Milan, Sydney, Hong Kong. McFancy is part art installation, gathering spot and, of course, a restaurant that offers a traditional McDonald’s menu but packaged in a way that makes a playful yet stylish nod to the lifestyle of the highly desirable, influential consumers that attend Fashion Weeks.

Waiters in tuxedos, silver service, private dining areas, and packaging co-created with the fashion brands that present at Fashion Week — Burberry burgers, Chanel fries on black packaging, Paul Smith Sundaes…A bit of fun among the serious business of fashion. A bite of comfort food among all the elaborate cocktail fare, Private dining rooms, a raised catwalk that winds around the perimeter of the space, and with a central bar area providing a dramatic focal point. The ceiling is constructed from stretched fabric, ribbed to provide articulation and define zones. The form of the ceiling is accentuated through the use of LED lighting.

DO YOU WANT TO BUY IN? LeBRON JAMES ON 60 MINUTES :: THROWBACK

McDONALD'S "CHECK THIS" w/ LeBRON JAMES & DWIGHT HOWARD

LeBRON "KING" JAMES x DWIGHT "SUPERMAN" HOWARD "CHECK THIS" PAY HOMAGE TO JORDAN/BIRD "THE SHOOTOUT"

We previously covered the breaking news that LeBron James will be featured in the classic remake of the McDonald's commercial "The Shootout" along with fellow NBA Superstar Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. Thoug Howard and his Magic men got the best of LeBron in their head-to-head playoff battle last season. I highly doubt that LeBron will lose his marketing edge in this $3 million dollar #SB44 spot that will be aired directly before the opening kick-off. In the meantime "GET YOUR FRENCH FRIES", because I am sure it will be a show you won't want to miss.

"HI, MAY I HAVE A HAPPY DEAL PLEASE: LeBRON JAMES PARTNERS WITH McDONALD'S

LeBron James is now shooting with a Golden Arch.

The NBA superstar has agreed to a multiyear partnership with McDonald's Corp., adding the global fast-food giant to a list of heavyweight corporate sponsors that already included Nike, Coca-Cola and State Farm.

Financial terms were not immediately known, but the deal certainly will add to James' substantial net worth. Last year, Forbes Magazine estimated the 25-year-old made more than $40 million in salary and endorsements. He is currently ranked behind only Tiger Woods on the Bloomberg BusinessWeek list of America's most powerful athletes.

James will support several McDonald's programs and promotions as well as Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides housing to the families of seriously ill children.

He has filmed his first commercial with McDonald's, a take-off on the infamous 1993 ad that featured hoops legends Michael Jordan and Larry Bird engaging in a trick-shot competition for a Big Mac. The new spot will debut during the Super Bowl on Feb. 7.

James, a six-time All-Star with the Cleveland Cavaliers and reigning league MVP, is thrilled with his newest business partner.

"McDonald's and I make a great team," he said. "We share many of the same core values, including a commitment to excellence and giving back to the community. I am also excited about the opportunity to work with Ronald McDonald House Charities, which helps improve the lives of so many children and their families around the world."

Beyond his involvement in charity work with the company, James will be part of TV, print and online advertising campaigns for McDonald's, which operates more than 31,000 restaurants in 119 countries.

Maverick Carter, James' business partner and CEO of LRMR Marketing, called the pairing of James and McDonald's a "a perfect fit."

"McDonald's is one of the best known and most recognizable brands in the world," Carter said. "LeBron couldn't ask for a better partner and for him to be involved with such a company says a lot about where he is in his career."

Carter said James had "on-and-off" talks with McDonald's over the past four years, and that the sides began finalizing their deal in recent months.

James, who has two young boys, fits McDonald's wholesome image and his worldwide popularity makes him an ideal ambassador for the company.

"We really like what LeBron stands for on and off the court," said Peter Sterling, vice president of marketing of McDonald's USA. "He shares the same values as McDonald's. He's hard working. He's community minded and charity driven. LeBron is also that rare athlete that transcends his sport."

When Woods admitted to infidelity, the public firestorm led to some of his corporate sponsors either dropping the world's top golfer or re-examining their relationship with him. Woods' indiscretions may have prompted companies to take a closer look at potential clients.

McDonald's had no concerns in signing James.

"It's a fair question," Sterling said. "We've had a long-term relationship with LeBron, going back to when he was in high school. What we can do is rely on LeBron's past actions and if his past actions are any indication, we're very excited about our future."

In March, James will lend his support to the McDonald's All-American high school games in Columbus, Ohio. Proceeds from the event will go to Ronald McDonald House charities in central Ohio. James was named MVP of the game when it was held in Cleveland in 2003.

James filmed his commercial for McDonald's earlier this month in Indianapolis. The spot also features Orlando All-Star center Dwight Howard and Bird, the Boston Celtics legend. Howard recently signed a three-year deal with McDonald's worth a reported $3 million per year.

Filmed at Conseco Fieldhouse, the commercial is a spin on the famous "The Showdown" ad that Bird made with Michael Jordan. In that commercial, which first aired during the 1993 Super Bowl, the Hall of Famers engaged in a game of H-O-R-S-E with the winner getting a Big Mac. Bird and Jordan traded imaginary trick shots — the final one off a skyscraper's roof top — which had to be sunk with "nothin' but net."

James has made previous Super Bowl ads for Bubblicious and State Farm.

Carter said Steve Stoute, founder of New York-based Translation Advertising, played a key role in bringing together McDonald's and James.