McDonald's lovin' hip-hop look for uniforms

July 6, 2005

BY ERIC HERMAN Business Reporter
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Would you like fashion with your fries?

Ramping up its bid for a hipper, more youthful image, McDonald's plans to hire top designers to remake its uniforms. The Oak Brook-based hamburger giant recently hired a marketing whiz with ties to the hip-hop community and is contemplating deals with fashion figures ranging from Sean "P. Diddy" Combs to Tommy Hilfiger.

"It would be pretty cool if our employees liked their uniforms so much that they would also want to wear them while they were not working," said McDonald's spokesman Bill Whitman.

McDonald's successful "I'm lovin' it" ad campaign, launched in 2003, used hip-hop music and images of with-it youngsters to broaden the Golden Arches' popularity. Justin Timberlake and Destiny's Child both recorded the "I'm lovin' it" jingle.

"We believe there's an opportunity to have those crew uniforms reflect that same 'forever young' spirit," Whitman said.

The redesigned uniforms will be used only in the United States, where McDonald's has about 300,000 restaurant employees.

Could cost as much as $80 mil.

McDonald's has hired Steve Stoute to guide its fashion quest. Stoute, who started his own entertainment marketing firm, has brokered several partnerships between pop stars and corporations, pairing rapper Jay-Z with Reebok for a new line of shoes, and forging a deal between Hilfiger and Beyonce Knowles for a new perfume. Stoute also brought Timberlake and Destiny's Child aboard for the "I'm lovin' it" campaign.

In redesigning the uniforms, Stoute said he would solicit proposals from Russell Simmons' Phat Farm, Combs' Sean John label, Jay-Z's Rocawear, American Eagle Outfitters, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ralph Lauren's Polo and Giorgio Armani. McDonald's will put one new design in use at a time, but change the look from time to time.

"We're going to work with more than one designer. We're going to keep it current and fresh," Stoute said.

The new uniforms could cost McDonald's as much as $80 million, according to AdAge.com. Whitman said the project was in the early stages and the company had not started negotiations with any designers.

Stoute said the new outfits would take the original McDonald's uniforms of the 1950s as their model.

"The authenticity comes from integrating the history of McDonald's and the vision of [McDonald's founder] Ray Kroc," Soute said. ". . . It's absolutely very important that it's tied back to the original McDonald's design."

In the past, other types of companies have used hip-hop marketing to bolster business in the African-American community, where McDonald's already enjoys strong consumer support, according to analysts. Last year, the state of Illinois sued tobacco company Brown & Williamson over its hip-hop themed ads for Kool cigarettes.

Under an agreement reached with attorney general Lisa Madigan, Brown & Williamson agreed to curtail the ads.

INSPIRATION FOR THE NEW UNIFORMS?

The man in charge of McDonald's uniform redesign says he will solicit proposals from designers, including these three, who are behind these clothes:

Russell Simmons

Giorgio Armani

Ralph Lauren

"It would be pretty cool if our employees liked their uniforms so much that they would also want to wear them while they were not working," said McDonald's spokesman Bill Whitman.