McDonald’s hands food development and insight to new CMO

Industry Contributor 3 Jun 2019 - 1 min read

McDonald’s hands food development and insight to new CMO

By Paul McIntyre - Executive Editor

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Tags: mcdonald's, marketing, CMO, data

In a marketing restructure, McDonald’s UK & Ireland has handed food development and insight to new CMO and senior vice president Gareth Helm (Marketing Week).

Key points:

Former Zoopla CMO will lead marketing, food development and insight
Head of marketing Michelle GrahamClare becomes food and beverage marketing director, dovetailing with marketing director for brand, experience and media, Ben Fox
CEO says restructure will enable more insight driven strategy

McDonald’s is backing an out-of-category marketer to deliver its next range of products. Helm certainly looks set to bring fresh insight: Though he has no fast food experience, he's worked extensively in FMCG (Kraft, Nestlé, Unilever, Mars Petcare and Innocent) as well as a digital pure-play Zoopla. As a non-exec director at Tails.com, he helped with sale of the subscription, tailor-made dog food firm to Nestlé last year.

The company is seen as one of many brands facing challenges as consumer tastes change. Yet the share prices of McDonald’s, Restaurant Brands International and Yum Brands are at or near all time highs. Something of a disconnect between popular opinion and the view of investors.