McDonald's Casting Call

McDonald's® is borrowing a page out of Starbuck's brand model. They have

…unveiled its new packaging April 15, 2007 featuring 24 consumers selected from its first online Global Casting Call, which received 13,000 entries from around the world. Starting this month in the United States and Canada, the new faces will be featured on McDonald’s most prominent packaging – cups and bags – and ultimately seen by 52 million people a day as the packaging rolls out worldwide.

In so doing they are creating the sense of community in their marketing. They have come to understand that community involvement in the marketing/brand process is better than pushing brand messages for today's generation of cynical consumers. Check it out for yourself what McDonald's has to say about their new campaign.