The McCafé concept was designed to help create atmosphere and foot-traffic at the entrance to the McDonalds stores at Swanston Street, Melbourne (a very large store with the front counter a considerable distance from the shop’s entrance). The idea was developed between Charlie Bell and the local Regional Corporate team (David Bayes, Mike Tregurtha and Jim Vasiliadis). The first McCafe opened as a Corporate store in Melbourne, and not by a licensee as indicated above (Ann Brown was Brisbane based). The first one in the United States opened in Chicago in May 2001 when there were about 300 worldwide. In 2004 McCafé opened in Costa Rica and in France, and the next year, the concept was launched in Italy. In 2007, the chain expanded to Japan as part of McDonald’s efforts to boost sales with healthier soup and sandwich offerings and reach out to new customers who favoured traditional coffee shops. Despite being a relatively small part of McDonald’s overall strategy, there are currently 1,300 worldwide.
Thjnk Hamburg asked Spark to negotiate the rights for Amanda Blank’s ‘Something Bigger, Something Better’ for the use in a new McCafe campaign by McDonald’s Germany.
Spark negotiated the fees and agreements with the record label and music publishers on behalf of McCafe.