SPOTLIGHT: Burger King's CMO talks about how his brands have responded to the crisis, and how he is managing his newly blended work and life
- Fernando Machado, CMO of Burger King Corporation, was interviewed by Tanya Dua for BI's Spotlight digital live event series. The topic was how brands can and should engage during the coronavirus crisis.
- Machado oversees Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeye's, and showed examples of brand creative during the crisis.
- He also talked about the new normal that is coming once the crisis is past - for consumers, and for companies.
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Burger King Corporation CMO Fernando Machado said that the brands he oversees "changed completely the creative and the strategy" in response to coronavirus.
Machado's remit includes marketing strategy for Burger King, Popeye's, and Tim Hortons. He was interviewed by Tanya Dua, BI's senior advertising reporter, for a BI Spotlight Digital Live Event on Thursday, April 9.
"We created assets and shifted the plan showing people things we were doing in terms of health and safety and to showcase the best channels for people to get our products," he said. The teams created new ads for all the brands talking about cleaning processes as well as product accessibility.
The brands then shifted messaging to how they can help the communities in which they operate. Tim Hortons, for example, donated coffee and goods to healthcare workers. Burger King gave away two kids meals for every order through the BK app, and Popeye's has also been working with an NGO partner focused on feeding hungry children.
How global brands can respond
With global brands like the ones Machado oversees, every market has its own challenges and the media mix has adapted accordingly as people are stuck at home.
While he would not disclose budget changes specifically, Machado did say that the overall growth of digital will inevitably make it a bigger part of the budget allocations with any fluctuations coming in the future.
"Digital over time has been growing exponentially, and I don't think if we have to cut budget we would probably not cut from digital," he said. "So if the total pie reduces...the percentage digital will play will be way higher than ever before."
BI's Dua asked Machado about how brands can engage appropriately during the coronavirus crisis.
"One thing I've learned as a marketer - it doesn't matter what you do if what you are doing stands out, someone is going to criticize," Machado said. "So whatever you do, you should do it with conviction that you are doing something good for people."
"Then let people criticize. And then, after you do that - do it again. And again. And again. And hopefully, at some point, people are going to understand that your intention was always good to start with."
Blending personal and professional; the new normal
Machado also reflected on the ways that life and work are now intermingled, as he balances taking care of his young sons with his global management responsibilities.
"When you are working from home so long, it starts to blend," Machado said. "I even wonder with everyone working from home if we are going to see the rise of an even more authentic type of leadership or professional style."
"Hopefully when we come out of the storm companies will be more flexible about working from home," he said. "Which I think will help everybody."
Machado said that an aspect of his role has become more relevant since the onset of the crisis. "I always was a bit of the voice of the consumer," he said. As much of the company is dealing with current issues and is in "firefighting mode," Machado said a more important part of his role is predicting what permanent consumer changes are coming down the road.
"There's no normal anymore," he said. "We are never going back to what it was. I'm the guy who probably spends the largest chunk of time thinking about what this new normal will look like."