The brief covers strategy, planning and buying, and will see 39 markets switching over immediately, with the full transition complete by the second quarter of next year.
The business in Asia-Pacific, which accounts for more than 10 per cent of global spend, is currently split three ways - OMD has southern China, which it won this time last year, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia.
Starcom handles the brief in Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia, and ZenithMedia covers central and northern China. OMD president and CEO Joe Uva told Media: "The consistently superior work that we have done for McDonald's in markets throughout the world, particularly in Asia, put us in a position to provide it with a credible solution to globally deliver consistent media strategies and creative media executions while giving savings through economies of scale." Referring to the creative media awards OMD won on behalf of McDonald's in Hong Kong, Uva added: "The creative approach that we apply to McDonald's in Hong Kong is a best practice that we will strive to replicate everywhere."
McDonald's executive VP and global chief marketing officer Larry Light said the shift would open the door for "better long-term planning, greater sharing of ideas and the ability to track and analyse the effectiveness of our advertising around the world".
Local franchisees will continue to make their own buying decisions under guidance from OMD. More than 80 per cent of the chain's outlets around the world are owned and operated by independent local business people.
The creative roster of agencies remains unchanged.