McDonald's CEO debacle-- did marketing mess up or was there just too much trust their CEO wouldn't act the way he did on camera?

I think its safe to say as marketers we assume our c-suite would respond positively on camera and wouldnt need to be coached. Did their marketing team not give good instructions (take a BIG bite, look happy?) Or did the CEO fail on his own?

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I don’t think he eats at McDonald’s

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He’s just not a charismatic leader, he is more dry and monotone when he speaks. I didn’t even think it was that bad. He eats how I would eat. I just love all the responses from Burger King and Wendy’s

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This wasn’t a live feed. They could have scraped it afterwards or done something else. This has been huge, and everyone is copying, so I’d say maybe not a flop. No such thing as bad publicity.

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Only if you don't eat it is the caveat on "no bad publicity." Bad publicity from food that made you sick almost destroyed Chipotle. Only fixing the food fixed their image, and that previous publicity made strangers very aware of the brand, but in all the wrong ways. Remember: if it involves you eating it or excreting it, the publicity has to be positive or you're toast.

It wasn't a debacle at all, given all the attention they've gotten. If you can get your competitors to jump in and give you more attention, hey, not bad. I guess it's an open question whether they were baiting people to respond, but whether it was a deliberate strategy or not, it somehow worked. I wasn't paying attention until the competitor reactions kicked in, so it was the bank shot that got my attention.

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Attention =/= sales. If people aren’t buying the big arch (or even more mcd’s by extension) then what’s the point?

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He just dint need to be on camers

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Definitely wouldn't call it a debacle. He's not comfortable on camera or at least not eating on camera. I don't know any marketing department who is going to push back if the CEO wants to do something. What are you going to say "Uh, sir you look like you've never eaten any of our products. Like we promised you a salad if you at this " food" first."

That's why it has to be standard practice that if the CEO wants to do something, he has to involve Marketing. If he "went off the ranch" and there was nothing anyone could do, he owns the error 100%. In terns of self-preservation, you have a marketing team to help you shift from your ego to a strategy that doesn't blow up on you.

A bit of both. The CEO is the captain and as such, it is crucial that he or she always appears on point. Yes, the Marketing Dept. needed to be sure that he would look confident and pleased with the Big Arch, but it is also his fault because it needs to be canon that Marketing stays on top of his appearances. Respondeat Superior - ultimately it is the boss' fault. He "put the keys in their hands," and they "crashed the car."

Marketing could have asked hi to redo. They should have been there to watch the taping. But we don’t know if the CEO refused another take.

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