Fahlgren Martin Hits Home Run With McDonald's World Series Promotion Spots By Jim Kir

CHICAGO - In 1987, small West Coast agency Davis, Johnson, Mogul & Colombatto (now Davis Ball & Colombatto) made ad history whe

This fall, Fahlgren Martin/Columbus, Ohio, is facing some serious national exposure when it gets a chance in the national limelight for the same client.
Fahlgren Martin’s success earlier this summer with a local baseball-themed promotion in Ohio prompted McDonald’s to run a baseball-themed promotion, although different, during this year’s World Series Championship and run it nationally, with Fahlgren Martin providing the ad support.
The agency’s two 30-second and one 15-second black-and-white spots focus on Major League Baseball’s heritage. Fahlgren Martin’s local spot featured the legendary Abbott and Costello comedy routine ‘Who’s On First.’
Fahlgren Martin officials wouldn’t comment on the campaign.
Although McDonald’s now occasionally uses local campaigns nationally, the instances are rare, and are even less common today as the chain relies more and more on national promotions and campaigns from national agencies Leo Burnett Co. and DDB Needham Chicago. McDonald’s slowly has been whittling its regional agencies, and is planning on only using a handful of regional agencies to service local franchisees.
Davis, Ball’s ad, which garnered some of McDonald’s highest recall scores ever, was eventually incorporated nationally by Burnett. And while the spot didn’t necessarily rattle Burnett at the time, local spots that to national certainly put the local agency in a different light with the client.
‘I think it improves the agency’s standing a bit,’ said one McDonald’s insider. ‘It certainly gives them a little recognition in (McDonald’s headquarters in) Oak Brook.’
Fahlgren Martin is one of McDonald’s larger regional agencies, handling a number of markets in the Southeast and throughout Ohio.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)