For those that don’t know but I have started cycling and yes I have gone full “mamil”. And if you don’t know what a “mamil” is then let me enlighten you. 

Mamil = Middle Aged Man In Lycra.

Yup, you heard that right.

Me & lycra. What a combo.

I know this should never be a thing and I do sincerely apologize to all the visual people reading this thinking of my sexiness being squeezed into lycra. That is not something you should have in your head and I am sorry.

So in order to get that visual out your minds let me try and give you another visual to focus on.

Madonna & Dennis Rodman shagging.

Yup. Imagine that. 

The self claimed sex machine was all over the worlds most loved material girl and he wasn’t shy about it either. The man himself divulged every detail on their little romps and trust me that visual is way worse than me in lycra.

You see, Rodman has made a career of shocking people. It is his thing and nothing surprised the world more than when he struck up an unlikely friendship with Kim Jong-Un in 2013.

Rodman & Kim Jong-Un. Another scary combo.

But Rodman didn’t stop there. He is also mates with Mr Trump. Yup, the same man who is now the President of the United States. 

That’s our Rodman, giving us even more crazy.

Anyway, when questioned about his friendships with these two individuals, Rodman said he thought he could help smooth out the tensions between the two feuding countries and specifically between the two men, with him being the facilitator.

The world just chuckled at this, but let’s fast forward from 2013 to 12 June 2018 as it looks as though the strangest combo in the world has been brought together by the man himself.

Trump & Kim Jong-Un.

No one ever would have imagined this summit happening, but it is and it’s happening here in Singapore and all in the name of peace.

Now it’s this thing called Peace that has blessed us with this combo but has also in the past given us another unlikely combo that I love.

McDonalds & Burger King.

This PR campaign that I wished I had done all started with a simple letter from Burger King addressed to McDonalds. In the letter they proposed a peace treaty in which they wanted to come together and create the ultimate peace symbol.

The McWhopper. 

A burger that brings the best of both brands in one delicious burger all in the name of peace. The world loved the thought of it and it took off on social media with everyone waiting in anticipation for McDonalds to respond to BK’s offer to create the ultimate burger.

McDonalds did respond, but unfortunately Rodman wasn’t there to help negotiate the deal and they declined the offer. This sparked the social sphere to take matters in their own hands and the internet started to create their own McWhoppers. Thank you internet.

The McWhopper was such a well organized PR campaign with all the right elements and tools to get people creating and talking about the McWhopper that it was everywhere. It was such a huge success that it cleaned up on the awards circuit and with the massive results to prove it’s success too.

But just like Rodman being behind the Trump & Kim combo, I want to talk about the man behind the McDonalds & BK combo, Mr Tom Paine.

Back in 2011 in response to the D&AD white pencil open brief an idea was born in which rival corporations collaborate together on a product all in the name of peace. Unfortunately for various undisclosed reasons the only place that the idea ended up in was the bottom draw collecting dust.

Tom then moved to Y&R later that year, with his bottom drawer and it was here that the idea resurfaced due to Y&R’s PR connection with Burger King. 

He saw an opportunity and after dusting off the cobwebs he started bringing this idea back to life.

They developed a three minute strategy film, bought a domain and uploaded a password protected sell presentation. All they needed now was someone at Burger King to send it to.

That’s where Fernando Machado comes in, he is the Senior Vice president of Burger King. They sent the link to him and using Google Analytics they tracked it to whether or not it was opened or read.

He read it, but nothing happened.

Then a few days later their phone rang and on the other end was Fernando. Before they could say anything, Fernando excitedly said, “ I don’t swear often but I fucking love this idea.”

Imagine finally hearing those words after all the years of holding onto your idea, dusting it off, protecting it and doing every thing in your power to sell it.

That’s when the McWhopper was born with a great client, great creative and the desire to make something new and interesting.

The rest is history.

So let’s get back to Rodman and his combos.

People thought he was crazy when he said he could help bring two feuding countries together to talk. Just as people thought Tom was crazy when he said he could help bring the two feuding fast food chains together. 

Now, Tom went on to win pretty much every award in the world for the McWhopper. And as we all know the world we are living in right is pretty crazy and anything can happen which means Rodman could potentially pick up some metal too.

Just imagine this combo,

Rodman & The Nobel Peace Prize.

Or

Rodman & Time Magazine’s Person Of The Year.

Scary, I know.

But the good news is you probably have scarier thoughts in your head now than the combo of me & lycra.

You’re welcome.

I Wish I Had Done That.

Gary