The Commissioner Steve Stoute is featured in the upcoming issue of TIME. The article, which is available to read here, focuses on Stoute’s rise in advertising with his company, Translation. Man, that McDonald’s check must’ve been super sized!

It was Stoute who in 2003 helped steer Justin Timberlake to McDonald’s for its “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign with a rather unorthodox approach: instead of McDonald’s simply licensing an existing Timberlake song, Timberlake recorded an original “I’m Lovin’ It” tune. The song got heavy airplay prior to the campaign’s debut, and by the time the ad, also featuring Timberlake, aired, the public already had a relationship with the song. It’s a strategy deployed by Bollywood filmmakers to create a musical connection with audiences before a movie is launched. To date, the “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign remains one of the longest-running in McDonald’s history.

girm