Interview: Eugene Lee exits McDonald's, reflects on his career and the industry

Eugene Lee is without a doubt, an inspirational marketer, having risen up the ranks from a senior marketing executive to an international chief marketing officer of McDonald's. But above all, Lee wants to be a present dad.

After 15 years with the fast-food chain, Lee is stepping down from the role to prioritise his family and his three-year-old son. Like many other fathers, Lee wants to witness his son grow up and be there for him as a father figure. That's not to say the decision came easy for him. "After 15 years with McDonald's, it's not an easy decision to step away from a brand that has played such a significant role in my career," said Lee in an exclusive interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. 

"The international CMO role at McDonald's has provided me with remarkable exposure, but the demanding travel, the constant changing in time zones and time away from home have been taxing," he added. Family aside, Lee also felt that it was time for him to explore new opportunities that will allow him to grow outside of his comfort zone. 

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To Lee, these opportunities look like the pursuit of a career in industries he is personally passionate about such as eSports or the automotive industry. "Stepping down from a role without a defined next step can be a daunting decision, but I have always believed the opportunity favours the bold," said Lee. 

In his role as CMO, Lee has worked on numerous campaigns, but three have earned a special place in his heart. One of which is the ayam goreng ('fried chicken') McD campaign with McDonald's Malaysia for its perfect combination of strong consumer insights, creative bravery and guts. The BTS meal, created together with the regional team in Asia is yet another campaign Lee is proud of, adding that "it was amazing how the campaign took on a life of its own across Asia with customers even creating homemade merchandise out of food packaging." 

Meanwhile, the global activation of "Raise your arches" campaign that originated in the UK but expanded internationally is another noteworthy campaign from Lee's career as McDonald's international CMO. The local adaptation from the Middle East was his particular favourite as it embraced the original idea but localised it with precision.

Replacing Lee in the role is Erwin Dito, who is presently McDonald's VP global brand leadership. 

Reflecting on the marketing industry, Lee wishes that marketers would take a more "insights first" approach instead of "ideas first".

"How many times have we sat in meeting rooms and asked 'how are we going to sell this?' and jumped straight to generating ideas instead of asking 'why are we selling this?' and took the time to truly understand the insights behind the customer and product – I’ve been guilty of this myself," said Lee. 

"As marketers, we often miss the mark on the true consumer insight and deeply understanding why a customer would want, need or buy our product in the first place, instead staying very surface and jumping straight into ideation on how to sell it," he explained. 

He added that the thing that keeps him up the most as a marketer is how transactional and overly reliant on performance metric modern marketing has become. ROI is now the name of the game and every single dollar spent has to generate immediate returns, said Lee. This has shifted marketers focus and energy towards tactical execution, sucking creativity out of the work.

"Building a brand through brand affinity and brand trust takes time, commitment and often long-term investments that you can't see immediate returns on."

"I’m a firm believer that 'People will forget what you tell them, but they will never forget how you made them feel', and investments into building a relationship with customers (making them laugh, making them cry, making them feel) instead of focusing entirely on transactions will pay dividends in the long run – and is also how great brands such as McDonald’s were built," he added. 

According to Lee, the most successful campaigns he's seen during his career have always started from a strong consumer need and insight. "You know you've landed on a strong insight when the marketing strategy doesn’t need to keep changing every year, and you only need to innovate on the tactics to keep things fresh," added Lee. "So slow down and take your time to ask 'why' because it will lead to much more successful marketing." 

In his next role, Lee is searching for growth and impact - whether it's in the form of going into an industry that is completely new to him, or a role that will stretch him such as general management. Additionally, Lee wants a role that allows him to bring execution and getting his hands dirty together to cohesively deliver real impact to both customers and the business.  

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