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Campaign Imminent: McDonald's hires W+K for brand project, reviews agency model (Score 33)

Update: We have a quick update on Wieden + Kennedy New York for a "major upcoming project" that involves the brand's creative positioning in the US. It sounds like the positioning will be modernized, but nothing has yet to be confirmed. The appointment ends McD's exclusive creative relationship with Omnicom.

There should be revenue available from the project, so sellers with high reach among millennials and Gen-Z should contact decision makers. Then, watch for additional campaigns since McD's is considering shaking up its spend and agency relationships further.

Senior corporate communications director Jesse Lewin told Adweek that the US marketing team "has been evaluating an agency model that mirrors the significant transformation in the US market." The internal process to identify that model is almost complete.

Since the fast food chain is evaluating its agency relationships, agencies and martechs should continue to reach out for a chance to secure work. Focus pitches on assisting McD's with its recent spend shifts and on differentiating McD's from competitors like Wendy's, Burger King and Arby's.

Please feel free to read about McD's recent spend and spending plans, as well as its current agency roster, below. You can also read more about those here.

Below was originally published July 25.

McDonald's announced that global CMO Silvia Lagnado will depart in October to pursue opportunities elsewhere. She will not be replaced, but the fast food chain did just promote Colin Mitchell from global brand VP to global marketing SVP. He will take over some of her duties - global marketing, insights and menu innovation - and report directly to CEO Steve Easterbrook.

We assume the rest of Lagnado's duties - brand development, media, merchandising and customer relationship management - will be split between the regional CMOs (note: Morgan Flatley serves as US CMO). We have not heard of the regional CMOs begin affected by the leadership changes, but we'll keep you posted if we hear otherwise.

On top of those changes, McD's promoted Molly Jandrain from PR & brand engagement head to senior PR & brand engagement director (June); Liliya Rechitsky from IT procurement & global strategic sourcing services director to global strategic sourcing services marketing director (May); and Nathaniel Jacobson from marketing manager to marketing director (May). It also hired global business insights & analytics director Chris Wittenberg, former people analytics head at Citadel (May).

Please view lower-level shifts here.

There's a possibility we'll see agency changes as a result of these marketing shifts, so agencies and martechs with QSR experience should reach out for work. Focus pitches on assisting McD's with its recent spend shifts and on keeping McD's top-of-mind amid competitors like Wendy's, Burger King and Arby's. The chain's agency roster is as follows:

• Omnicom's here);
• IPG's here);
• here);
• here);
• here);
• Omnicom's The Content Collective, hired as entertainment and content marketing AOR in March 2018 (more here);
• here);
• We Are Unlimited, Omnicom's dedicated McD's creative shop, tapped for creative in 2016;
• Sparks & Honey, selected to handled some social, multicultural and experiential work in 2017;
• Resolution Media, hired for programmatic in 2017;
• Golin, tapped for public relations in 1957;
• Walton Isaacson, which handles various experiential duties;
• Burrell Communications, selected for multicultural work in 1972.

Remember that McD's just local media review.

Since McD's has been focusing more on local marketing, local sellers should reach out to stay top-of-mind. Strategy will differ depending upon the exact franchise/region you want to secure revenue from (e.g., breakfast offerings vary from region to region), but it wouldn't hurt to pitch strategies in line with McD's national focus.

The chain has been focusing on millennials and Gen-Z with a number of new technologies, new menu items, an expanded delivery option and more personalization. It spends highly year round, so it does not have a top spending period, but it does hold planning conversations in Q2 and buying conversations in Q1.

iSpot reports a YTD national TV spend of $315.5m and about $278.5k of that has been dedicated to two new spots - "An Easier Way to Enjoy Summer" and "Summer Time" - that began airing 7/22. Spend in the same timeframe of 2018 totaled $379.7m, full 2018 spend totaled $628.6m and spend in 2017 totaled $443.9m. Targeting is typically diverse (see chart right).

Adbeat reports digital display over the last 12 months has totaled $18.5m, a decrease from the $51.7m spent during the 12 months prior. Ads are placed primarily via YouTube (83%), direct buy (12%) and Google (3%) onto sites like youtube.com, upoxx.com, yahoo.com, telemundo.com and warpedspeed.com.

McD's also uses out-of-home, print and radio, according to Kantar. Out-of-home and print have seen decreases in recent months, but radio has actually seen increases.

Hookit reports sponsorships include the St. Louis Blues, Chip Ganassi Racing, the Indianapolis Indians, Cory McClenathan and the Kansas City Royalss.