Marketing Week

Fernando Machado is a marketer on the up. Since joining Burger King in 2014 after 18 years at Unilever he has been celebrated for the brand’s quirky creativity and its willingness to take a stand on societal issues, achieved on limited budget. He was recently named 'Grand Brand Genius of the Year' by Ad Week in the US, an award that followed Burger King being crowned Creative Marketer of the Year at Cannes in 2017. In this wide-ranging interview, Machado discusses: · Why the “great idea” is everything in marketing · The importance of having a challenger mindset · Why data-led companies don’t need marketers · His quest to convince people that fast-food is “not evil” · Why Burger King’s brand DNA justifies its purpose driven campaigns