Today the Cannes delegates got to experience something quite unusual but very valuable. A CFO talking to a CMO about the importance of creativity.
It was McDonald’s Corporate Executive Vice President and CFO, Ian Borden, together with the company’s Global CMO, Morgan Flatley, in conversation with Jill McDonald, President of International Operated Markets at McDonald’s, on the topic “Convince Your C-Suite: The Real Impact of Creativity”.
It quickly became clear that Ian Borden was the only CFO in the large Debussy Theatre, and that he probably doesn’t have many counterparts at Cannes more generally. But he reckoned it wouldn’t be a bad idea if more people in his position made it to Cannes Lions in the future.
“Today we know that high-level creativity drives business results and builds brand value,” he stated, adding that there is very clear evidence for it.
“McDonald’s is the fifth most valuable brand in Kantar’s BrandZ. The only one in the top ten that isn’t a tech company,” he emphasised.
Morgan Flatley admitted that six or seven years ago, McDonald’s wasn’t focused on creativity to any great extent either. There was some good advertising in different parts of the world, but it wasn’t consistent.
“We focused on speed, on making sure a Big Mac tasted the same wherever you ate it, that sort of thing,” she explained.
But a lot has happened since then, and much of the change is down to marketing and finance now understanding each other and being able to speak the same language.
“We’ve learned which tools help us understand things and be consistent,” said Morgan Flatley.
“We invest a great deal in marketing, and the marketers have educated us so that we can speak the same language,” Ian Borden added.
Both described how McDonald’s today has full transparency when it comes to development and measurement, and works very closely both internally and with its agencies.
“Our CFOs today understand what good creativity means,” said Morgan Flatley, who also reminded the audience not to be afraid of measurement and research.
“They don’t constrain creativity, they liberate it,” she pointed out, adding that McDonald’s also benefits greatly from its size.
The company operates within a fairly complex web of stakeholders, with franchisees as important players in the mix. But it also means they can share ideas and scale up campaigns that work well across multiple countries.
Previously, they had spent more energy trying to talk to and persuade people who don’t like McDonald’s, but they found it works much better when they speak to their “fans”.
It was undeniably interesting to hear a CFO talk about the importance of high-level creativity. And not just that.
“You also have to take risks to get the best results,” Ian Borden said, and went on:
“You shouldn’t take risks when it comes to customer insights, but when it comes to the design of the advertising. That’s where you have to be brave.”
Customer insights weren’t McDonald’s strongest area in the past either. But they’ve learned there as well.
“We used to often ask ourselves, ‘Will it work?’ when we developed a new campaign. But today the question is ‘Is it true?’ It has to ring true,” Morgan Flatley explained.
“To drive results and brand value, you have to keep taking risks. You can’t become complacent, and you have to let the fans in as co-creators,” she added, pointing to examples from the US where they collaborated with rapper Travis Scott to develop merchandise that he had designed.
He was also one of the celebrities featured in the “Celebrity Meals” campaign, in which various famous names talked about their favourite McDonald’s meals.
Jill McDonald asked Morgan Flatley for her best tip on making the collaboration between marketing and finance work as well as possible.
“To start with, you have to get to know your CFO properly. You need to speak the same language, so you can show what creativity achieves. Build a business case so you can show how it has worked. Don’t be afraid of the numbers! We’ve set a tone at the top, and we talk about creativity in every meeting. We practise seeing and understanding,” Morgan Flatley explained, adding:
“And then you have to learn how important it is to say Yes. It’s easier to say no, that’s almost hard-wired in. But it’s YES that drives success.”
“We know that highly creative communication delivers the best results today,” Ian Borden summed up.
A further piece of evidence for that is surely the fact that McDonald’s Sweden, together with Nord DDB, recently won the Grand Prix in the Long-Term Growth category at WARC’s Effectiveness Show.
