IABC Café

I was fascinated by yesterday afternoon’s presentation on McDonald’s communications strategy that transformed press coverage of the company between 2003 and 2005. Top corporate relations officers Jack Daly and Bridget Coffing were a well-rehearsed tag team. Lots of video and blaring music - fun!

In late 2003 revenues had stalled and the stock price was down. This was big news for big media like Business Week which headlined a cover story: “Hamburger Hell.” Jim Cantalupo was appointed CEO and trotted around with a new message: McD’s strategy going forward was to find more customers for existing stores; to grow “better” and not just “bigger.” Spending was reduced by 37% or $1.2B and stores were closed.

A new “message map” (I love that phrase) was devised to articulate core messages. They were to be delivered consistently and globally. What’s interesting (to me at least) is that the communications strategy was a genuine reflection of the business strategy… and it appears to have worked.

The formula was as follows: new creative and a new tagline + new product offerings (salads) + a renewed emphasis on the customer + McD’s involvement in a “balanced lifestyle initiative.”

Of course, the food is still just as bad for you, partially responsible for this country’s epidemic of obesity, etc. But never mind…

A small German ad agency won the bake-off for the new creative with the tagline I’m lovin’ it (aka Ich liebe es, etc. and - apparently - safely translatable into every language). They showed us some of the TV ads in Spanish. Very hip and clever.

The biggest challenge to the communications campaign came in April 2004 when ceo Cantalupo died unexpectedly of a heart attack at a meeting of McD’s executives in Orlando. Amazingly, McD’s communications folks were ready. They issued a 2-sentence press release at 4:30 AM with the news. The board met at 7 AM and appointed his successor, Charlie Bell (who tragically died of cancer some months later). A 4-sentence release went out at 7:30 AM announcing the new CEO. By 9 AM, academics and other business analysts were clearly articulating McD’s new business strategy and praising the succession plan on morning TV.

All based on six sentences issued by corporate communications. A great story and a really entertaining presentation.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2005 at 6:43 am and is filed under IABC International Conference 2005. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.