The McDonald’s Men of McCafe Search is a new talent search launched in the USA on September 25. Through hosting a series of live events and an e-mail entry time period McDonald’s will determine which five community service-minded males will represent as the official Men of McCafe at the 2011 Essence Music Festival.

McDonald’s has teamed with popular online portal AOL Blackvoices to bring this exciting search to life online by hosting applicants’ profiles and online content from the series of live events.  Starting in October 20, 2010, consumers will be able to email menofmccafe@365Black.com and apply for a chance to represent McCafe.

The Men of McCafe, a group of African American male brand ambassadors, made their successful debut at the McDonald’s booth during the 2009 Essence Music Festival. Since then, the group has developed a following throughout the country providing McDonald’s the perfect opportunity to develop an interactive program that recruits fans of McCafe to become brand ambassadors.

«This program is our way of providing a meaningful experience that will directly impact our consumers by allowing them to have connection to espresso based coffee culture and new age beverages while also providing a fun and contemporary means of promoting positive images of African-American men,» said Rob Jackson, Director of U.S. Marketing, McDonald’s USA.

The national search kicked off with a live event in Atlanta at the Real Moments, Real Fruit Smoothie Fusion tour stop at the Atlanta Football Classic on September 25. Former NFL player and inaugural Man of McCafe, Isaac Keys, and BET personality, Alesha Renee hosted the search for current male students and alumni at Historically Black Colleges and Universities during tailgating activities.