McDonalds           

“The freedom to fail is an important part of of our culture.  Without opening the door to failure, we reduce the opportunities to succeed.  And we eliminate the chance to learn.”

            Having known that McDonald’s was shopping for agencies in 1970, Reinhard went out to do his homework on fast food.  He studied and sampled various fast food chains and interviewed their customers.  From this research he concluded that the unique selling point for McDonald’s was the emotional reward of their restaurant service.  When McDonald’s marketing chief Paul Schrage finally visited Needham, Harper & Steers, he bought the concept, and, driven by Reinhard’s empathic anthem, “You deserve a break today,” McDonald’s soared.  Years later, he would lose, and then regain, control of the McDonald’s account.

            In 1981, McDonald’s fired Reinhard from its account.  Being fired was so serious a defeat that Reinhard was told by his friends and fellow ad people, “Forget it, move on.”  McDonald’s was apparently not that forgiving.  But Reinhard’s stubbornness prompted him to take the issue several steps further.  For years, he bombarded McDonald’s ad department with unsolicited (and unpaid for) ideas and research.  He sent Spanish language pitches for the fast food company to use in Europe.  In speeches he frequently quoted McDonald founder Ray Kroc.  He kept up this barrage of ideas, and finally, in 1997, McDonald’s came home to Keith Reinhard’s organization, a testament to the value of persistence.