Two months after Pod Digital Media was honored at the ANA Multicultural Excellence Awards Gala for a campaign it created for McDonald’s, the podcast network says it has a new multiyear deal with the fast food chain. The original two-year deal launched in January 2022 with custom segments, content, and specialized ads targeting diverse young audiences. The renewed deal, which begins in January 2024, will extend for another two years. In a joint announcement, both say they remain committed to working together to help advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the media.
“Our customers and employees deserve to hear stories told for and by their communities, and we are looking forward to renewing our contract and look forward to continuing the impactful work,” McDonald’s VP Caleb Pearsons said. “We serve 13,500+ diverse and unique communities here in the US, and over the past two years, we’ve had the great pleasure of working with the creative minds at Pod Digital Media to bring authentic content to these communities in a deeper, more resonant capacity.”
Since the beginning of this collaboration, Pod Digital Media says it has helped McDonald’s connect with Gen Z listeners and its core 35-49 audience by creating custom content and placing pre- and mid-roll advertisements across the network’s properties that mainly target Black, Hispanic and Asian-American audiences, as well as fans of esports. Most notably, PDM produced McDonald’s Change Leaders Live Podcast Activation campaign that featured the stories of McDonald’s 2023 Black and Positively Golden Change Leaders. They are a group of ten young Black leaders who are working on a variety of initiatives to make a difference in their communities. In October, it won the 2023 ANA Multicultural Excellence Award in the Audio (Radio, Internet Radio, and Podcasts) category.
“We are thrilled to renew our collaboration with McDonald’s and to continue helping the brand connect with multicultural audiences nationwide,” said Pod Digital Media CEO Gary Coichy. “We also plan to expand on our already-successful campaigns with more activations, influencer marketing, and other experiential opportunities.”
McDonald’s has long been a big supporter of urban radio, and that commitment is now extending to podcasting. In January 2022, it announced a groundbreaking advertising partnership with Pod Digital Media as the fast food giant looks to follow through on its commitment that by 2024 its franchise owners will more than double their marketing spending with media companies, production houses and content creators that are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Women and LGBTQ-owned.
Coichy also points out his history with McDonald’s goes back even further. He is among the one in eight Americans whose first job was at the burger chain.