Consumer PR Lead (12 month FTC)

The Opportunity

The Opportunity

We are on the hunt for an experienced comms professional to lead Consumer PR in the UK and Ireland. From high profile influencer and celebrity partnerships, to highjacking the cultural calendar to maintain and build McDonalds relevance, this is a varied and exciting role with lots of scope for creativity, strategic thinking and smart execution. You will oversee the delivery of our consumer plan in 2025 and develop our approach for 2026 with the aim to earn us space for the stories we tell across the McDonalds business from new menu items to promotions, from our people storytelling to partnerships.

Examples of this work include:

• The Meal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5x14gOJAPk
• McFleet https://www.redconsultancy.com/case-studies/mcdonalds-mcfleet/
• The launch of Makin It https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/latest/makinit.html

This is a FTC maternity cover role.

What will my accountabilities be?
Consumer PR

• Develop and lead the day-to-day consumer PR plan; responsible for all proactive PR for brand, products, offers and marketing campaigns
• Oversee a busy and switched on press office across key areas including Family, Value and Menu campaigns
• Provide PR power and magic to key marketing moments and promotional priorities
• Ground our consumer plan in cultural relevance, to engage our audiences in a meaningful and exciting way which align with the McDonalds brand to drive fame, affinity and trust
• Be passionate about McDonalds role in society telling our community stories, from our support of the Ronald McDonald House Charities to Children in Need and our Fun Football programme
• Work on cross functional teams to ensure alignment across multiple internal departments

Media

• Deliver a demonstrable commercial benefit to the business through owned & earned media, with activity underpinned by clear framework of KPIs and Return On Marketing (ROMs).
• Manage editorial content across owned and earned media.
• Integrate digital adoption KPIs into PR, social and event activations
• Support on press office enquiries and crisis communications when necessary (including out of hours / weekend rota which runs across the Impact team)

Activations and talent

• Responsible for our McFleet (mobile McDonalds on the road) to highjack the cultural calendar; allowing us to show up at VIP parties, festivals, sporting events and create amazing experiences for our customers and crew
• Lead our work with talent, influencers and content creators, and own our influencer strategy and approach

Brand Reputation

• Collaborate with Marketing and Customer Services to manage the reputation of the brand in the UK on social media including owned assets.
• Brand protection through identification of potential risks developing online through social listening, media analysis and reporting.

Social Media:

• Close liaison with social owners in Marketing for always-on social media and social strategy
• Collaboration on Impact owned social media channels

Customer experience:

• Close alignment with Customer Experience team to ensure consistency in customer-facing messaging & customer services.

Agency relationships

• Manage all Consumer PR agency relationships on behalf of McDonalds UK and support McDonalds Ireland activity
• Manage one direct report seconded full time from our agency
• Allocate and manage a significant budget across multiple agencies to deliver our plan

What Team will I be a part of?
You will be part of the Impact (communications) team.

Who are my customers?

• The wider Impact department: Corporate Comms, Government Relations, Internal and ESG
• Internal audiences: working with a range of departments across the business including Marketing, Operations, Legal, Finance, Supply Chain, People, Franchising
• External audiences: media, consumers and stakeholders, talent and celebrities