POSTED: January 11th 2010

NewsUpdate

McDonalds cooking up more than golden McNuggets for Vancouver 2010

LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications

TAMPA, Jan.11: Top Sponsor McDonald’s is gearing up for the winter Games in Vancouver with some new compelling advertising, athlete-themed packaging and a fun engaging new Champion Kids program to reach out to the youth.

Countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway have embraced the “Share the Gold” theme with special Chicken McNugget promotions and in the USA stores will focus on golden Chicken McNuggets with a new limited time sauce.

There will be three restaurant areas planned in the Olympic Villages in Vancouver and Whistler and in the main press center in Vancouver featuring feature McCafé beverages and snacks.

Mary Dillon, McDonald’s Global Chief Marketing Officer, John Betts, McDonald’s Canada President, and Olympians Shawn Johnson (U.S. gold medal gymnast) and Patrick Chan (Canadian men’s figure skating champion and world silver medalist) all offered a sneak peek at the Vancouver Games’ plans.

“In addition to feeding the athletes, there is something for everyone to celebrate the Games at our 1,400 McDonald’s restaurants across Canada,” said Betts. “We want our customers to know McDonald’s is their Olympic Games headquarters and we look forward to welcoming the world to celebrate with us.”

McDonald’s has a history of Olympic sponsorship program dating back 40 years to the winter Games in Grenoble, France. To get appetites stirring they are also using three new fun and compelling advertisements fueling the Olympic spirit.

There will be some special menu additions for the Games such as S’mores Pie, the Crème Brulee, and Crunch McFlurry. The Happy Meals will feature fun, interactive toys of the 2010 Winter Games mascots to support the Olympic themes.

Dillon, said:  “Athletes continue to tell us they love our quality food when training or celebrating wins at the Games, and it’s one of the reasons we’re proud to be the only brand serving them as the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games.

“We’re thrilled our food can play a special role in their lives and for our more than 58 million customers every day around the world.”

Patrick Chan says, “McDonald’s is a great supporter of athletes and I am honored to be part of the team.”  

Champion kids

The Champion kids program debuted at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Summer Games, where children aged 6-14 from around the world received a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the Games first-hand. There will be ten ambassadors at the Vancouver Games and US Olympian Shawn Johnson joined other athletes to judge essay entries to select the winners.

She said, “I was inspired by the kids’ creativity and the effort they put into their essays. It was incredible to tell the winners they were heading to the Games.

“The Olympic Games changed my life and I’m excited to watch the Games impact the lives of the 2010 McDonald’s Champion Kids.”

McDonald’s is also practicing environmental awareness by adhering to the first-ever carbon neutral Games project by joining the voluntary Carbon Partner program to help offset indirect carbon emissions. On top of that McDonald’s three new Olympic Games venue restaurants will be fitted with energy-efficient lighting and equipment. 

Betts remarked that he was pleased on the return on investment in the Top Program and that it was “almost priceless” for promoting the ideals of the company twinned with the Olympic brand.

Keywords · McDonald's · Vancouver 2010 · Mary Dillon · John Betts · Shawn Johnson · Patrick Chan

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