McDonald’s stand-alone advertising agency We Are Unlimited finally has a chief creative officer, months after its founding.
Toygar Bazarkaya, most recently Havas Worldwide’s chief creative officer of the Americas, will start at We Are Unlimited on May 15. He will report to Ari Weiss, chief creative officer for DDB North America, who has been overseeing creative work at We Are Unlimited since its founding earlier this year.
Bazarkaya will be joining We Are Unlimited CEO Brian Nienhaus at the helm.
“I couldn’t ask for a better partner to run Unlimited,” Nienhaus said. “After a comprehensive search to fill this role, Toygar is the far and away best candidate with strength as a creative, a creative leader and a passion for the unique data-informed agency we are building.”
McDonald’s revealed last year that after two years of splitting its advertising between Leo Burnett and DDB Chicago, the world’s largest hamburger chain would enlist Publicis and Omnicom, the respective parent companies of the Chicago agencies, to compete for the entire portfolio of business. A consistent advertising message is critical for McDonald’s, which despite strong earnings growth has failed to also get more customers in the door.
Omnicom won and launched We Are Unlimited, which has already released a campaign to promote the fact that the Big Mac now comes in three sizes (“There’s a Big Mac for that”) and more recently rolled out ads starring Mindy Kaling in which she asks viewers to Google “that place where Coke tastes so good.” The former star of “The Office,” donning a yellow dress against a red background, never mentions McDonald’s by name.
But perhaps the most significant work being done at We Are Unlimited is what customers won’t likely notice. McDonald’s has put a big emphasis on data collection as a way of customizing a visitor’s experience at the Golden Arches. Through the addition of mobile order and pay later this year, the chain hopes to start collecting information — everything from how often you visit to what kind of burger you prefer — and translate that into better service and more frequent orders through customized offers.
The fledgling agency is helping to spearhead these efforts, as well as everything from creating real-time ads to respond to trending news on social media to planning the 12-week run-up for Super Bowl spots.
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