McDonald's Romania and Electronic Music Festival UNTOLD to Host Epic DJ Battle for Rising Talents

For its second year of being present at the UNTOLD festival held in Cluj Napoca, McDonald's Romania decided to take a unique approach and empower the youth in the music industry, by providing a launching pad to upcoming young artists. This special project aims to emphasise McDonald's commitment to supporting the new generation and further solidify its position as a welcoming place for all young people.

In collaboration with DJ DARK, a renowned local DJ, McDonald’s Romania embarked on a search to discover the most promising up-and-coming DJs and provided them with the opportunity to perform on one of UNTOLD's highly acclaimed stages: The Tram Stage.

“We believe in Romania’s youth, and through this project, we are actively demonstrating our commitment to empowering them. McDonald's aims to become a brand that offers support to the new generation not only within our restaurants but also beyond. Recognising that the future is shaped by the young, we are dedicated to aiding them in achieving their aspirations, no matter what their dreams may be.” - Paul Dragan, managing director, Premier Restaurants Romania (McDonald’s)

This fresh idea by McDonald’s Romania, developed together with creative agency DDB Romania and the support of digital agency Tribal Romania, gave rise to the coolest DJ competition, where eight talented emerging artists, selected by DJ DARK, were challenged to remix the iconic McDonald's jingle and create the "Mec VIBE."

"Listening to the fresh voices of the industry is truly invigorating and giving them a chance to showcase their talent and unique musical style at one of Europe's biggest festivals is even more exciting. When it comes to evaluating a DJ's skill, there's no better way than assessing their remix of a well-known track, and for me, there's no tune more famous than pa-ra-pa-pa-pam." – DJ DARK

"For us, the UNTOLD experience doesn’t solely mean attending the festival in order to see the biggest and hottest DJs around. It also involves discovering fresh new talents. So we’re happy that, together with McDonald's, we have the opportunity this year to become a launching pad for the most promising up-and-coming DJs and redirect the spotlights on them. All while making use of one of our most valuable brand assets: the jingle." – Roxana Nita, executive creative director, DDB Romania.

“This is the second year McDonald’s is attending UNTOLD and it’s really exciting for us that this time we go beyond just providing entertainment and unique experiences to our audience. We wanted to make more of a statement and talk about future stars of the music industry represented by the four DJs, who will take centre stage in our campaign.” – Irina Angelescu, marketing director, premier restaurants Romania (McDonald’s).

After an exciting two-week contest, the remixes of the iconic jingle were completed and made available for public voting on a dedicated landing page. Four talented young DJs - two females and two males - were declared the winners. They got the amazing opportunity to play their music on the Tram stage in front of the enthusiastic UNTOLD crowd from the 3rd to the 8th of August.