As McDonald’s prepared to report a big drop in quarterly profits, its longtime Chicago PR agency of record was moving to address the elephant under the golden arches.
Behind the scenes of the burger behemoth’s “Our Food. Your Questions” online campaign, a dozen staffers at Golin’s Bridge — a social media hub — were taking queries via Twitter, responding to consumer questions about the quality of the chain’s food.
So far, the campaign, launched in mid-October about a week before McDonald’s reported a 30 percent drop in third-quarter profits, has generated mixed consumer reviews. But it’s clearly a bold move to address what’s plaguing McDonald’s: Quick-service competitors touting healthier offerings are eating into its bottom line.
And bold moves are what Golin CEO Fred Cook, who turned 65 in May, is all about these days.
The motorcycle-riding, former hotel doorman and his team at the firm formerly known as GolinHarris, a unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies, have spent the past three years realigning the agency’s organization chart and talent. Instead of promoting highly creative people to account management jobs, the “g4” initiative separated Golin employees into four distinct centers responsible for account acquisition and management, media (including social media) engagement, content creation and data analytics.
This summer, the agency shortened its name to Golin, adding the tag line “Go All In” to reflect the new g4 structure and a commitment to winning business in new areas.
Cook also penned a book this year — “Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO” — chronicling his early path from hanging out in pool halls, doing odd jobs and eventually being a substitute teacher to middle and high school students in inner city Los Angeles. He followed up the book with presentations on about 40 college campuses and to PR industry groups, advocating a sort of Jack Kerouac approach to hitting the road and finding a career.
“He’s masterful at hiring and retaining wonderful people,” says Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, another longtime client. “He also has a wealth of creativity, new ideas and new twists to help us communicate.”
On a recent weekday, Cook took a few questions. Here is an edited transcript:
Q: The g4 effort began in 2011. Are we there yet?
A: We aren’t anything like we were three years ago. Revenue from new sources is up because of our broader scope of work. We’re doing a lot more social media now. We were improvising from the beginning because we didn’t have anybody to copy. We didn’t have any books to read that said, ‘Here’s how you transform a modern public relations agency.’ We didn’t have any consultants who had done this before. We were really figuring it out as we went along and we’re still improvising, still changing things. We’re always playing it by ear. What I learned in my life and the way I lived my life — exploring and taking risks — is exactly what I’m trying to do with this company. I think more people need to do that because things are changing so fast, if you can’t keep up you just get left behind.
Q: Improvisational actors have exercises they use to limber up before performances. Is there something similar in what you describe as Improvisational Leadership?
A: We do crisis simulations. You go into their facility and can simulate these crises and document how people act. So we’re creating a scenario and allowing people to feel what it’s like to make decisions under pressure, so when something does happen they’ll be more comfortable and more accustomed to the pressure.
Q: Crisis PR is certainly not new. What is different about this approach?
A: What’s different today is that you have to respond much, much faster and across multiple channels — a website, a press conference, Twitter, Facebook or some combination of those.
Q: Can you give an example?
A: On the Bridge we do real time marketing and engagement. An opportunity comes up and requires somebody to respond quickly. So we have a team in place there — media people — creators who can do copy at the drop of a hat so a client can respond almost immediately. The secret is getting clients conditioned to approve copy in a short amount of time, as opposed to saying the legal department will review this and get back to you. That doesn’t really work.
Q: Of course winging it can create loose cannons and PR nightmares. How do you execute this without shooting your client in the foot?
A: You still have to be thoughtful and exercise good judgment and incorporate different opinions. Don’t lash out the moment something happens. Our research has shown that in real time conversations, you have four hours to respond to be relevant as part of that conversation. So you don’t have time for focus groups and opinion polls to find out what you should be saying or doing and so you do have to improvise, but not instantly. There’s still time to process it, but not very much. A lot of companies aren’t accustomed to operating in real time and I think future leaders have to be comfortable on their feet and making decisions in real time.
Q: What kind of reaction are you getting on campus?
A: I spoke to about 100 students at University of Florida recently and when I told them my story a few came up to me afterward and they said they’re relieved because they understand there may be more than one path to be successful. And mine was such a crazy one they feel like they might be OK.
Q: Any tips for midcareer innovators?
A: When I got my first job in PR I was 36, so I’m very sympathetic to people trying to start a new career later. Try not to be discouraged. A lot of times I tell them how I tried interviewing for these entry-level jobs and it was kind of a humiliating experience so I started my own firm. Don’t just apply for jobs. Go out and do it on your own even if it’s unpaid so you can gain some experience and seem like a more viable candidate.
Q: How about for folks taking leadership roles?
I had been in our LA office 15 years when I volunteered to move here. The president had left and I wasn’t the new president. I didn’t have anyone reporting to me, nobody knew the plan and my title was chief client officer. I had gone from being in charge of a region to a position that wasn’t clear to me or to the people here. I just started helping out on campaigns where I could and after a year I had helped win some business, including the Visa business, and people began to trust me and see that I added value. (Since taking the CEO job in 2003) I’ve tried to preserve the nice-guy, family-oriented culture here but also make the hard choices to win more business. We’re nice guys who will kick your ass.
