By: Brooke Anderson
On Wednesday, January 15, CPRS Toronto presented its CEO Award of Excellence in Public Relations to John E. Betts, President and Chief Executive Officer, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada @mcd_canada. Friends, family and colleagues gathered for lunch at the Eaton Chelsea Hotel to celebrate his achievement.
Photo via CP Images
Though Mr. Betts did not take the helm of McDonald’s Canada until 2008, he revealed that his “Canadian connection” began much earlier, when his father was the American Consul General in Montreal and later Toronto. Mr. Betts credited the frequent moves – especially around Europe – with honing his communication skills and giving him the ability to bringdiverse groupsof people together to reach a consensus. He said that his time with McDonald’s Canada has been most fun and rewarding assignment of his 43-year career.
As Mr. Betts accepted the award, he thanked his leadership and communications teams, and all McDonald’s employees and stakeholders, for helping to rewrite the brand story. He emphasized a two-way dialogue where listening makes people feel heard and part of the process, because everybody has a role to play. This was clear in the presentation videos, which showed employee engagementacross Canada and a mountain of positive media coverage.
Mr. Betts simplified his recipe to three communication principles:
- Having a vision that people can rally around
- Building a narrative that everyone can be part of
- Merchandising success to build the greatest level of engagement
In conversation after the event, Mr. Betts spoke of the need to berelatable, whether it’s touring a meat factory or serving customers. He’s determined to “change the conversation” about McDonald’s in a big way, involving employees at every level to challenge “half-truths and myths.” Building on last year’s theme of differentiation, Mr. Betts can’t wait to continue the journey in 2014, the company’s year of engagement.
We’ll be watching what McDonald’s does next. A huge thanks to everyone who attended the event, to McDonald’s for providing coupons to all our guests, and to our sponsors: 680 News, AVW TELAV, Canadian Press Images, Cision, CNW, Infomart, Leger, Marketwired and News Canada.
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