On April 12, the renowned and award-winning global marketing director of Restaurants Brands International, parent of Burger King, Fernando Machado, will become CMO of Activision Blizzard. After seven years in the group, the creative resigns and enters the ecosystem of video games and eSports, in the company of well-known names such as Call to Duty or Candy Crush.
In 2014, the professional landed at Burger King, as Marketing Director, before becoming CMO in 2017. In January 2020, he was promoted to CMO of the restaurant brand’s parent, overseeing Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons. Known globally for award-winning campaigns such as ‘Whopper Detour’, ‘Moldy Whopper’ o ‘Traffic Jam Whopper’, Machando was elected CMO of 2020 by AdAge. Before joining the RBI team, he spent 18 years in Unilever.
The creative is recognized for executing innovative ideas, like the one mentioned that featured a whopper that turned green with mold. These risks can sometimes be counterproductive, such as the brand’s recent International Women’s Day campaign with the phrase ‘Women belong to the kitchen’, which was intended to play on the sexist phrase to promote a Burger King initiative designed to help nurture cooks. However, the action was criticized on social media and the company withdrew the ad.
The CEO of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, you’ve been looking for creativity for your company for a long time. In 2019, the company appointed Pelle Sjoenell, global creative director of BBH, as your new Global Creative Director at Activision Blizzard. On this path of change Machado to replace David Messinger, Activision Blizzard’s first global CMO, chosen two years ago, which came from the Creative Artists agency.
Aside from video games, Activision Blizzard is also involved in the rapidly growing esports industry. Activision Blizzard’s 2020 revenue increased to 8,090 million dollars, compared to $ 6.49 billion in 2019, thanks in part to what it described as a record year for its Call of Duty franchise, according to a publication by AdAge.
The gaming industry has grown like foam during the pandemic, due to forced confinement in this period, although social distance has affected the leagues. According to Bloomberg, The group laid off dozens of employees in March, including 50 people who handled eSports programming, due to the impact of the pandemic on business at live events.
(Photos: Fernando Machado received IPMARK in one of the most representative Burger King restaurants in Madrid, in an interview in 2018).
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