McDonald's Jingle Is Latest J-Pop Craze in Indonesia

A new McDonald's jingle has topped the charts in Indonesia, and not for the reasons one may think.

"Nihon No Fureebaa," sung and performed by Japan-based Indonesian songwriter Ica Zahra, quickly rose to become the #1 most searched song in Shazam, as well as one of Indonesia's top pop songs during the month of its release.

However, the Leo Burnett-produced music video was sung in Japanese, did not come with subtitles, nor did it have any visuals related to the fast-food chain.

So how did it come to be such a big hit?

Brand & Agency Leverage J-Pop Culture 

Ravi Shanker, Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Indonesia, shared that Japanese pop culture is prominent in the country.

"People love Japanese pop songs and put them in their playlists, sing along, even wear cool t-shirts with Japanese letters - all without understanding what they mean," he explained.

This led the creative agency to create the song and collaborate with Zahra. As it turns out, the lyrics were all about the relaunch of the fast-food giant's Taste of Japan burgers.

The campaign proved to be an effective marketing strategy, generating buzz for the limited-edition burgers among fans of the song.

Mcdonald's Indonesia's marketing director Michale Hartono noted that the point of the campaign was to make people love not only the burgers but the brand.

"Even after people realized that it was an ad, they continue doing karaoke with it, and the song–I mean the jingle–is now in thousands of Spotify playlists to this day," he concluded.

Edited by Nikola Djuric