MCDONALD’S RESETS MARKETING TO DELIVER SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
Mark Lollback, Chief Marketing Officer McDonald’s Australia and New Zealand, says that McDonald’s marketing strategy has shifted away from activity that delivers short terms sales spikes to activity that delivers sustained growth over a two or three year horizon.
In this week’s episode of Marketing Dividends presented by AANA, Mr Lollback explains how the marketing team at McDonald’s incorporates the brand team, the consumer insights team, the innovation and menu team, and the digital and media team. He makes the point that the combined group provides the insights that drive activities that deliver sustained and real growth for the business.
“What we realised actually was that they (marketing initiatives) need to be bigger, bolder initiatives that
generally have an impact over time, not just filling a window in the calendar,” Mr Lollback said.
As part of that shift, McDonald’s is planning integrated activity that will make its customers, particularly its most loyal customers, feel more valued and will launch a club called ‘My Maccas’ that will help transform how they serve and treat their customers.
“There is no doubt today that the marketing department is responsible for what I would call ‘thought
leadership’. More than ever, it’s not about the marketing plan but it’s how do we elevate the conversation to a business plan. How do we integrate the whole company, aligned behind the one agenda, to have what we call ‘consumer noticeable impact’ in our restaurants and therefore in our business results,” Mr Lollback said.
Mr Lollback also says that if marketing isn’t truly a part of the c-suite then it needs a re-brand. “If marketing today has a seat at the table, particularly at the c-suite and it is seen as driving the business, no (it doesn’t need a rebrand). If you are anywhere but there, absolutely.
“If you are running a marketing department in an organisation that couldn’t tick those boxes, I would be
wanting to rebrand, reposition and create enough energy and space for marketing department to have a real presence.”
The interview also reveals the biggest challenge faced by the McDonald’s marketing team in the last 12
months has been the intensity of competition and the impact that this has had on the businesses ‘food
dynamics’ forcing continual reappraisal and change.
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