The Marketing Store is a global Customer Engagement Agency that believes closer insights, closer connections and closer collaboration create better, more effective work. With a network of offices across North America, Europe and Asia, it’s our goal to bring people and brands closer together. Through this dedication to getting closer, greater potential is released. In the spirit of getting closer, our US Customer Experience and Retail Journey team is fully embedded into the We Are Unlimited agency in Chicago. This unique arrangement allows for closer connections and ease of collaboration that result in more effective and more aligned output for our mutual client, McDonald’s USA.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

Lead the strategic and tactical development, execution, and evaluation of the Director of Operations marketing initiatives including advertising, promotion and public relations activity to achieve annual sales and guest count goalsCollaborate with Operations Staff, Restaurant Managers, and other Marketing Staff to develop, execute and evaluate restaurant strategy plans (i.e. Down Store, Bottom Quintile, New Store, Grand Opening, Rebuilds, etc.)Gather and analyze information related to sales, P&L, promotional evaluation, general economic trends, and qualitative/quantitative research to provide recommendations or presentations to Operations business partnersBuild strong relationships and foster teamwork among McOpCo marketing staff, McOpCo Operations staff, restaurant managers, vendors, and advertising agenciesCoordinate the development of low cost, effective marketing materials through vendor relationships and utilization of negotiation skills

Participated in the review and screening of candidate resumes; set up interview schedules, select interviewers, run debriefing meetings, determine next step decisions and manage all communication with candidates; coordinate offer and closing processAnalyzed data regarding offers and yields to identify competitive market issuesManaged the establishment of strategic relationships with career services and student groups to strengthen brand awareness and reputation on Chicago college campusesCo-lead the summer intern program; developed training curriculum, planned social activities, and managed all logistics of program

Selected to join the U.S. Marketing team for a ten-week internship program, focusing on customer engagements and alliances; built a broad base of support within different departments including brand trust, communications, and menu innovationsCollaborated with cross-functional team to create and develop a multi-media advertising campaign for McDonald’s Olympics “Favorites Under 400 Calories” campaign, which increased sales and guest counts nationallyAssisted with a strategic development project to re-position the McDonald’s All-American Games brand and coordinated the launch of the subsequent advertising campaign through social media outreach, website content and design; Intent to increase total website views 10,000 views per month and attract 200 Twitter followers within one month of commencementProactively shaped and presented a national McDonald’s Youth-Stakeholder Engagement strategy to team of McDonal’s Marketing Directors and staff