The perception of McDonald’s as a low status job is unfair and wrong, and had predominately been shaped by outside opinion, not the ones that actually know what it’s like working there.The key was to let the true carriers of the brand, namely the 12.000 young employees, drive their own campaign for their workplace. The campaign “Donken Rap” gave them the tools and the voice to do it.

(i.e. “Macca’s Rap”, “Donken” being the Swedish popular name for McDonald’s),A rap video competition on non-paid web spaces and a little help from a rap community proved successful in increasing overall job applications and improving McDonald’s employer image.The rap-competition itself created enormous media penetration, and above all englarging large portions of the target group as well as hundreds of bloggers. The winning entry was seen and commented on by 16,000 people.

The campaign was crowned with a celebrated appearance at one of Sweden’s largest live music venues, Gröna Lund in front of 5,000 spectators. Total number of job applicants to McDonald also increased by 4,000 compared to the same period the previous year.

A)• 15 best rap-songs recorded a demo, uploaded on YouTube• Spread via intranet, Facebook, blogs• Three entries appointed finalists• Each finalist got Superstar sneakers (partnership with Adidas) • Voting online requested by fans and project groupsB)• Competition blog was built with voting function (donkenrap.blogspot.com)• Communication in own channels • Finalist’s blogs with their entries• Local media in areas where finalists lived and Sweden’s leading hip-hop community – KingSize• Challenge of Nöjesguidens journalist to perform her own version of one of the finalists’ entries in a live web-feed from her apartment, Big Brother-styleC)• Winner was chosen• Communication of the winner• The winner recorded two songs professionally• Promotion on radio• Communication via local media and KingSize • Winner performed at Gröna Lund

The total number of job applications to McDonald’s rose by 4,000 when compared to the same period the year before (only calculated to August). Fulfilled goal.

Over and above those fulfilled goals, the campaign made some serious penetration, and more importantly engaged every major community of the target group; Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Lunarstorm, Fragbite, Kingsize, Nöjesguiden, Garaget among others, as well as hundreds of blog penetrations. As well, the participant's own campaigns for their entries in their own right received enormous publicity. The winners’ (Anton and Jocke) rap video was seen by, and commented on, by 16,000 people and the Grand Finalé, their concert at Gröna Lund, seen by 5,000 people.