McDonalds has announced a new live music initiative in the US which will see the fast food chain stage a ten-city music tour involving a diverse range of artists, including Ne-Yo, Kenna, Kat DeLuna, the Dey, Single File, Twista and Kevin Michael. With the exception of the LA launch event, all the gigs will be staged outside McDonalds restaurants.
It is the first time McDonalds have put together their own live music programme rather than participating in more conventional tour sponsorship. The company's Director Of US Marketing, Douglas Freeland, told Billboard this week: "This is the first time we've put together a McDonald's tour. We're always looking for ways to strengthen brand relevance with young adults, and we know from work we've done in the past that music is their number one passion".
The tour is being staged in collaboration with event marketing agency TBA Global, and will kick off next week with a performance by Ne-Yo and Kenna at California's Venice Beach Recreation Center before beginning its tour of McDonalds' parking lots. On the diverse range of talent due to take part in the tour, Freeland continued: "Our strategy was to involve emerging multi-genre artists who are releasing new music this summer". With that in mind, Freeland added that they have resisted putting the whole tour programme in place at launch, explaining: "We want to make sure we catch artists who are starting to break loose and getting spins at radio. If we lock down and commit with an artist too far in advance, you can't be 100% sure what's going to happen".
Freeland concluded: "The thing that really makes this unique is that we're not going into some arenas and hanging banners up. We're bringing the experience right to the brand by hosting these events at McDonald's restaurants, with the exception of the launch in LA".