McDonald's has about 550 outlets across China and the fast food giant is planning to open more than 100 new stores over the next 12 months in a bid to keep competitors such as KFC, Pizza Hut and a host of local rivals at bay, according to the group's Hong Kong and China senior director of marketing, Shantel Wong.
Last year, Nielsen Media Research calculated that McDonald's spent US$10 million on marketing communications activities in Beijing and Shanghai alone.
Industry sources said that figure could be more than double when secondary and tertiary markets are taken into account.
Zenith took the account from incumbent Starcom MediaVest Group. The latter also lost the southern China brief in November last year to OMD following a shoot-out that included Hong Kong, where OMD is the incumbent agency.
China is the only market in the world where Zenith will handle the burger giant's business.
OMD and Starcom are McDonald's roster media agencies globally.
Wong said: "Zenith's senior management demonstrated to us its solid knowledge and performance record in the China marketplace. They showed all round strength in media including planning, research, buying, systems and market insights."
She added: "McDonald's continues to grow fast in China. And we continue to look for the best partners and resources to address the needs of our growth plan."
Sources said that the pitch focused on the cost of media, however, Zenith Asia-Pacific chief executive officer, Antony Young, denied that this was the case.
"McDonald's essentially was looking for a long-term partnership to help them grow in China. Media costs are pretty important but it wasn't the only consideration. We placed a great deal of emphasis on planning in the pitch.
"In particular, we demonstrated innovative ways of tackling media options to really challenge what they are doing at the moment."
The decision represented a major blow to Starcom, which has handled the China business since 1995.
Blaise D'Sylva, Starcom Northeast Asia chief executive, said: "We are comfortable with the decision. We are very excited about the opportunity to work with another company in the quick service restaurant category, one that will be profitable to us and will appreciate the outstanding work that we provide."
There was no review of the creative account, which remains split between Leo Burnett in China and DDB in Hong Kong.