It's not clear whether she will have any influence on the agency
roster, but she will work closely with McDonald's U.S. Chief
Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl, who joined in January. Mr. Rafiq, Ms. Wahl and Ms.
Vander Ploeg are all McDonald's outsiders, an unusual move for the
company, given that most senior leaders are longtime employees.
Amid sagging sales, McDonald's has been vocal about its need to
improve operations, marketing and invest significantly in digital.
The chain earlier this summer opened up an outpost in San Francisco to "better attract
and recruit digital talent; buttress business development; and
provide the company "a way for us to be more plugged into the flow
of ideas," Mr. Rafiq, who is leading that team, said at the
time.
"You've all heard on recent earnings calls how we're
accelerating our digital presence to elevate our business and
Brand," McDonald's said in a statement. Ms. Vander Ploeg "is a
seasoned digital executive with vast leadership experience in both
the digital and high-tech world." Most recently, she was general
manager and senior VP at Ticketmaster's Resale division, where she
led strategy, product, marketing, and operations teams, according
to her LinkedIn page.
McDonald's is under intense pressure from Wall Street to improve
sales. What started as decelerating sales in early 2012 has turned
into a decline that could extend into next year. In the second
quarter of this year, U.S. sales in stores that have been open for
at least a year slipped 1.5% from a year earlier, following a 1.7%
decline in the first quarter. Earlier this month it reported global
comparable sales in July dropped 2.5% and U.S. comparable sales
fell 3.2%.
Earlier today, the chain announced that it was bringing its
McCafe coffee
to grocery stores.