• June 2, 2009

No one can accuse McDonald's of stinting on creativity (or budgets) when it comes to promoting its new premium McCafe coffees.

In one of the latest twists, McD's is footing the 50-cent toll for all commuters driving on the Atlanta area's Ga. 400 highway between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. today.

Naturally, drivers will also receive a card for a free small hot coffee or medium iced McCafe coffee, good at about 270 restaurants in the greater Atlanta area.

Between 6,000 and 10,000 commuters are expected to pass through the tolls during the promotion, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which notes that Maxwell House was actually the first company to pay tolls in an attempt to win over coffee customers. (Maxwell paid the tolls on Ga. 400 from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. one day in 2007).

No mystery why marketers targeting hordes of commuters would look to Atlanta. It has the nation's worst commute, according to a statistical analysis done by Forbes.com.

"Traffic here is a big deal," Vicki Chancellor, VP of the Greater Atlanta McDonald's Operators Association, told the newspaper. "We just thought it was a natural to ease the driving commute of people in Atlanta and to say 'thank you' because they have been wonderful during this McCafe launch."--Karlene Lukovitz