***UPDATE: The winner is Natércia Pintor from Portugal who not only gets the cash and American Idol tickets but producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins has also invited her to record a demo tape in his studio.******
One of our favourite internal branding competitions ends in two days – April 17 – when the winner of the ‘Voice of McDonald’s’ will be announced. This contest, which McDonald’s describes as a “fun” way to engage employees, has been an interesting demonstration of just how the world of celebrity, fame and talent shows have affected even corporate businesses.
The fast-food retailer has been running the ‘find a talent’ scheme to give one staff member $25,000 (£12,500) and a trip for two to watch the American Idol finale. Employees from around the world have been singing at auditions and whittled down over a period of ‘heats’. The singers are being judged by a group of music executives and popular singer/songwriter Ne-Yo.
The three remaining finalists are Candido Revilles from Canada ; Mary Margaret Yu from the Philippines and Natércia Pintor from Portugal. These three have been chosen from the 14 hopefuls who travelled to Florida this week to perform at the McDonald’s 2008 Worldwide Convention in Florida.
You can see a video from the competition below. Tell us what you think: is this an effective way of building employee engagement? Would you want to be the ‘voice’ of your business? Is this kind of thing the sort of fun that keeps people interested or would you cut out this kind of programme? Let us know!
Clip from the 2008 competition:
You can see a professional clip from McDonald’s about the 2006 Voice of McDonald’s search here:
