McDonald’s is to roll-out the McRib sandwich across the US for a limited period until 5 December and promote the product with a national campaign, AdAge has reported. The McRib, which features a boneless pork patty with barbeque sauce, pickles and onions, has appeared on McDonald’s US national menu on occasions in 1982 and 1994 but only for limited periods. The company hopes that by maintaining it as a limited time offer will generate a buzz around the product when it is available.

"Bloggers talk about the McRib, fans create websites to track it, and we want to capitalise on that. We want to keep the love for this product alive online, and we want fans to talk about the sandwich," said Brad Hunter, Senior Director Marketing for McDonald's USA.

As part of the campaign, the chain is launching ‘The Legends of McRib’ online site (mcdonalds.com/mcrib) created by Omnicom's Tribal DDB, which encourages fans to submit their own stories of the McRib's legend. The winning submission will win a trip to Germany - the only country where the McRib is offered all year - and an animation of the story will be created.

McDonalds will also run TV ads including a Hispanic-targeted TV spot from Omnicom's Alma DDB; an Asian-American spot from Interpublic Group’s IW Group and an African-American spot from Publicis Groupe's Burrell.