McDonald's CEO on Going Viral, the Big Arch and the Fast-Food Value War

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Tim Higgins (0:19)

It's a little weird to watch each other eat.

Chris Kempczinski (0:21)

Yeah, well, imagine how I felt.

Tim Higgins (0:25)

Seemed like a simple assignment.

Chris Kempczinski (0:26)

Yeah, seemed like it.

Tim Higgins (0:30)

This week on Bold Names, we're talking to Chris Kempczinski. He's the CEO of McDonald's. You probably recognize him because he just went viral trying to promote the company's new burger.

Chris Kempczinski (0:39)

You've heard about it. Here it is, the Big Arch.

Tim Higgins (0:42)

And half a pound of meat, it's a big one.

Chris Kempczinski (0:45)

All right, the moment of truth.

Tim Higgins (0:47)

Chris took what looked like a tiny nibble, and his rivals pounced. Burger King made a video of its president taking a huge bite out of the Whopper.

Chris Kempczinski (0:56)

Only one thing missing, a napkin.

Tim Higgins (0:59)

And Wendy's got in on it too. That's a burger. So I went to McDonald's headquarters in Chicago to talk with Chris about being the company's face in the social media era and what McDonald's is cooking up next. From The Wall Street Journal, I'm Tim Higgins. This is Bold Names, where you'll hear from the leaders of the bold name companies featured in The Wall Street Journal. Today we ask, what's the value of a viral social media moment and can McDonald's meet it? Chris, so great. Thanks for joining us.

Chris Kempczinski (1:34)

Yes. Welcome to McDonald's.

Tim Higgins (1:35)

It's great to be here. How did you realize that you went viral?

Chris Kempczinski (1:41)

It's a weird thing for sure.

The video had been out for about, I don't know, three or four weeks, something like that. I got a call from one of my kids and they said, Dad, you've gone viral and not in a good way. So that's when I knew like, okay, something's going on. Then, yeah, I started getting texts and emails and calls from friends and people from all walks of life that knew me, and invariably they were all like, hey, have you seen this? It's like by the thousandth time, yeah, I've seen it. So yeah, that was a weird moment.

Tim Higgins (2:22)

What do you think of the reaction?

Chris Kempczinski (2:25)

When you go on to social media, in general, you have to have a thick skin because there's going to be lovers and there's going to be haters. But ultimately for me, what I thought we did a really nice job on is once the Internet grabs hold of something, like lean into it. We did that, our team did a nice job of that. We are able to, I think, engage with our fans and ultimately that's what we're trying to do here at McDonald's is sort of activate McDonald's as part of culture. And in this particular case, I was the lead on that.

Tim Higgins (2:56)

So what do you think of some of the criticisms? I think of some of the videos that just kind of say, took a small bite, maybe you don't even like your own burgers.

Are you secretly a vegetarian?

Chris Kempczinski (3:08)

Yeah.

Tim Higgins (3:09)

Well, clear that up.

Chris Kempczinski (3:10)

Yeah, I'm definitely not a vegetarian. I think I blame it all on my mom because she told me, don't talk with your mouth full. And I think probably in that case, I should have just said, you know what, to hell with it. I'm going to go talk with my mouth full.

Tim Higgins (3:23)

Let it fly. Let it go.

Chris Kempczinski (3:24)

Let it rip. Right.

Tim Higgins (3:25)

I mean, you know, there are some out there who would say CEOs maybe should stay off social media. There's a lot of risk. Clearly, you're leaning in to the medium. Why?

Chris Kempczinski (3:37)

CEOs, for better or for worse, in many cases, they're the face of the brand. They personify a company. And so, I do think it's important to be out there, particularly in a consumer-facing brand, to do it. Now, there's ways that you need to be thinking about engaging, and there's places that I think it's appropriate for a CEO to be out there and doing it. But for me, McDonald's is a fun brand. McDonald's is a brand that everybody, you know, likes to talk about their McDonald's experience or whatever. And I think what I try to showcase are the fun aspects of our brand. And certainly, in some cases, it can go in unexpected directions.