Fernando Machado, one of the world’s most well-known marketing executives, is stepping down as chief marketing officer at Activision Blizzard to return to the food industry as CMO of NotCo, a food-tech company operating in plant-based foods.

In his new role, the Brazilian-born marketer will help the fast-growing Chilean-founded company expand its footprint, both with its own plant-based products and through its brand partnerships, which include licensing its technology to companies getting into plant-based retail, as well as striking food-service deals with restaurant chains.

Machado began his career at Unilever (as an engineering intern) and later spent seven years in marketing at Restaurant Brands International—parent company of Burger King and Popeyes—including as CMO of Burger King and later as global CMO of Restaurant Brands itself. He said he was drawn to NotCo’s vision for disrupting the food industry, beginning with its very name, which started out as The Not Company.

“It reminded me of the BBH black sheep ad for Levi’s. Imagine the potential of a brand that's called ‘Not’ that wants to reinvent food,” Machado told Ad Age. As someone who built a career on doing “advertising that’s not advertising,” he added, “I'm dying to do some Not marketing.”

Led by CEO Matias Muchnick, NotCo was founded in Chile in 2015. Its AI-driven technology, nicknamed Giuseppe, analyzes the taste, texture and smell of animal-based foods and replicates them using only plant-based ingredients.

Teaming up

Recently valued at $1.5 billion, NotCo sells its own “Not” products (Not Mayo, Not Milk, Not Chicken, Not Meat) and also licenses its technology to partners, including Kraft Heinz, which is developing plant-based foods co-branded with NotCo. Muchnick characterizes the partner deals as a kind of “Intel inside” arrangement, where NotCo essentially powers the product. The company also has deals to supply restaurants with Not products—partners include Starbucks in Mexico and Dunkin' and Burger King in parts of Latin America.

Despite its growth, Muchnick told Ad Age he felt NotCo’s marketing has at times felt too conventional. He has long admired Machado (they initially met online through LinkedIn comments—“like a Tinder date, but for business,” he joked) and is looking for Machado to break open the company’s messaging. The goal is to communicate the elevated quality of NotCo products, not just compared with other plant-based food but with all food.

“I think what plant-based has done in terms of marketing is very poor,” Muchnick said. “We had two years during COVID when people were redefining the way they interact with food and see sustainability. That’s changed. The focus is more confusing now. We need someone to penetrate the market with the right messaging, the right marketing, the right consumer thinking, the right categories of products, and stop being only plant-based-first.”

The co-branded products are particularly promising. In late 2022, NotCo and Kraft Heinz launched a pilot program for Not Kraft Singles in a limited number of stores in a single U.S. state—it became the top-selling product in the vegan cheese category in four months, with no promotion, Muchnick said.

“The leverage that brands like this give you is pretty unbelievable,” Muchnick said. Priced properly, he added, products in a Not Kraft Heinz line could chip away at the reputation of plant-based as too niche and too expensive.

“It’s still the Ivy League of products,” said Muchnick. “Very premium, very niche, very narrow in terms of channel, availability, affordability, value for money. There's many things we need to turn around. This is our marketing challenge.”

“NotCo is a company that believes we can change the world, but we cannot do it alone,” Machado said. “Kraft Heinz has a massive footprint, and we have an entire roadmap of products that are coming—all staple items in people’s homes—that will be co-branded with NotCo. That's a massive deal.”

Machado—who described himself as a “flexitarian” who eats both meat and plant-based products, and who explored plant-based with the Impossible Whopper in his later years at BK—starts at NotCo in April. He will be based in Miami, traveling to NotCo's main office in New York and its research and development office in San Francisco.

“I've learned a ton,” he said of his two years at Activision. “I had never worked somewhere that was digitally native. We had a great year in terms of sales. So I think it's a good time for me to move. And I'm moving because of the opportunity, not because of Activision.”

Activision Blizzard's net bookings rose 1.9% to $8.51 billion in 2022, while net revenue fell nearly 14.5% to $7.53 billion. A replacement for Machado at Activision has not been announced.

In a statement, the company told Ad Age: “Moving forward, our marketing teams will report directly to the business unit leaders to continue to drive the deep franchise expertise and relationships needed to achieve our go-to-market goals. We believe marketing decision-making and accountability at the franchise and business unit level is key to executing on our upcoming games slate.” The company added: “We extend our thanks and gratitude to Fernando for his creativity and dedication to Activision Blizzard.”

Machado, Ad Age's Brand CMO of the Year in 2020, added that his partner at Activision, chief creative officer Pelle Sjoenell, upon hearing of the NotCo job, was supportive of the move as well.

“He says, ‘If a spaceship from a different planet lands in your garden, you enter. You don't ask questions,’” Machado said. “When Matias and I started to talk, two or three months ago, it was like, ‘Yeah, the spaceship has landed. I have to get in.’”