Hyped

Adman Paul L. Tilley, who, while working for the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc, was instrumental in creating McDonald's "i'm lovin' it" campaign, will in all likelihood never see Avatar. He committed suicide on February 22nd, 2008, jumping from an "upper floor" of the Fairmount Chicago Hotel.

Our knowledge of Mr. Tilley's private pain should not, though, dissuade we the living from queuing up come Thursday, midnight, for a voyage into James Cameron's phantasmagorial brainpan. Nor should the contemplation of whatever irrevocable realization Mr. Tilley reached before stepping into the void or the feeling of terrible permanence he felt as the concrete rushed toward him prevent us from enjoying the wonderful promotional campaign the new occupants of his office have devised for we pampered consumers of the World, as lovingly chronicled in this fine Wired article, dated December, 10:

There’s no McDonald’s restaurant on Pandora, the intoxicating alien world created by James Cameron for his sci-fi movie Avatar — at least not yet. In the almost-inevitable sequel, all bets are off.

“There might be [a McDonald's] at the human base,” Cameron joked during a Thursday morning webcast announcing the massive Avatar promotional partnership between McDonald’s and 20th Century Fox. Cameron and Avatar producer Jon Landau laughed that they could envision unique regional cuisine for Mickey D’s Pandora franchise...

“We do have some arches in the movie,” said Landau.

“My God, that’s right,” Cameron said. “You know, people are gonna assume we knew about this tie-in before.”

The director... said the giant, arched rock structures on his incredibly detailed fictional world have nothing to do with McDonald’s.

“Honestly, that was pure coincidence,” Cameron said, “but every time we watch it, it’s like, ‘Oh, those are the Golden Arches‘ — especially at dawn. You could have sturmbeest burgers, you could have a hammerhead Big Mac, Quarter Pounder. It’d be like to be a quarter-ton, though — hammerhead, that’s a pretty big animal.”

“That’s why we like the Big Mac,” Landau said. “Everything’s big on Pandora.”

Diners at earthly McDonald’s will be getting a supersize helping of Avatar, which opens Dec. 18, thanks to high-tech commercial tie-ins with the movie...

In the United States, Big Macs will come with an Avatar Thrill Card that gives them access to interactive online experiences known as Pandora Quest and an augmented-reality game called McDVision. Completing Pandora Quest, in which players search for hidden objects within Pandora’s alien landscape, will give Avatar fans a chance to drive a virtual Pandora ROVR, a rugged off-road vehicle that lets them explore Cameron’s vivid sci-fi world online.

In Latin America, Avatar photo backdrops and augmented reality table stations bring the movie into McDonald’s dining rooms. In Australia, hidden codes on cups and trays give McDonald’s customers a shot at $80,000 in prizes. And in Singapore, Avatar commercials introduced a premium chicken sandwich. (OK, so that’s not so cutting-edge.)

“In the movie, we want to transport people to this world, and we want them to leave wanting to return to it,” Landau told Wired.com in an exclusive video interview (embedded above). “So through McDonald’s, you know, they have the opportunity to do exactly that through their various digital online experiences.”

Avatar’s gorgeous 3-D world brims with never-before-seen beasts and vegetation. But Cameron’s elaborate vision for the alien world — complete with a built-from-scratch language and other innovations — goes well beyond what’s seen onscreen.

Marketing efforts like the McDonald’s partnership are “all about expanding that world,” Landau said, “and utilizing technology to bring to the consumer different types of experiences, but all of one world.”

So, why the Big Mac and not some strange new sandwich? “It’s about thrilling your senses,” said Neil Golden, chief marketing officer for McDonald’s USA. “There’s so much going on with a Big Mac — the special sauce and the two all-beef patties. We think it’s a perfect match to tie that product in with a movie like Avatar, which is clearly about thrilling one’s senses.”

What can we say but: "Me rikey velly much!"

Paul L. Tilley 1967-2008

“I think he always wanted to be in advertising... He loved words, and he loved wordplay. The thing he loved about advertising was that it involved words in the service of an idea.”