Profile: McDonald's media director Frank Lin leads the way for growth in China

Back in the early 1990s, while working at Grey Hong Kong, Frank Lin, now senior marketing director of national marketing at McDonald’s China, was one of the few local agency people who volunteered to be transferred to the China office - this at a time when most people considered China a hardship post. Lin remembers clearly the reactions his decision provoked. “My friends thought I was crazy,” he says.

Almost two decades later, much has changed, of course. “Friends now call me and ask if there are any jobs that I could recommend them for here. Even though it is sometimes tiring, I never regret I made the decision of moving to China, against other people’s advice.”

Lin’s learning curve has been demanding, making his way through several creative and media agencies before being headhunted by McDonald’s in 2005. Since arriving at the restaurant giant, which is celebrating its 20th year in China in 2010, he has had to adjust to the challenges of working client side in an intensely competitive market, which hosts KFC, Burger King and countless local fast food firms.

“Our competition is certainly not small, but in a sense we need more as the market is too big and there are still many people who don’t have the habit of dining out,” he says. “If there is a lack of competition, then there will be less synergy for our progress. As a Chinese idiom says, ‘If there is competition, there is driving force’.”

Lin points to McDonalds’ current marketing efforts in China, which are focused less on competition, and more on how to build message awareness. This can be as basic as deciding how the restaurants themselves are managed. McDonald’s currently directly operates the majority of its estimated 1,200 restaurants in the country, compared with over 2,600 for main rival KFC, which operates through a franchise system.

Lin says that the China market has so far not been mature enough to justify McDonald’s opening franchise stores, although this could change in coming years. “McDonalds’ corporate vision is to provide a good dinning experience to our customers,” says Lin. “We won’t open a restaurant in a location that does not fit our safety, high quality food, and foot traffic standards. If we operate directly, the quality control and the brand are more manageable.”

McDonald’s also takes a strict attitude to product localisation. Lin says that while the company is serious about launching localised menus, it avoids launching new flavours that could affect the brand experience. “We don’t want to deviate from our core too far. We are aware if we do too many product varieties, we may lose our core competence, which makes it more difficult to maintain customer satisfaction.”

While Lin has much to say on McDonald’s branding and creative strategy, he is equally outspoken on the topic of media, an industry whose development in China he has played a role in from the start. While working in Guangzhou, he became broadcast director in charge of all electronic media for TV and radio at the newly-launched Grey MediaCom, the first independent media unit in China. Three years later, Lin moved to JWT Shanghai as media buying director, just after it had been appointed Unilever China’s AOR.

“Unilever was one of the earliest multinational companies in China, so the client was quite understanding about the environment,” he says. “In fact, I think the most difficult thing at the time was dealing with the TV stations in China. They did not understand our needs and controlled the benchmarks according to their own bosses.”

Despite the progress made in the Chinese media industry, Lin still sees areas for improvement, in particular a proper system to govern ROI. “The whole market is not so sophisticated. From advertising to sales optimisation there are too many variables that are not yet quantifiable or measurable.”

For McDonald’s, Lin believes that biggest obstacle will come from how the company shapes its own future. “It is dangerous to rely on our history, as the China market has too many possibilities with such a big scale and quick pace of development,” he says.

As a late developer, though, Lin argues that China is in a position to avoid the mishaps of many countries in the West. He is also continually motivated by the potential and power of the country’s mass market. “That’s another reason why I still enjoy China - I am discovering new things every day. ”

Frank Lin CV

2005 Senior marketing director - national marketing, McDonald’s China
2000 General manager, FCB Guangzhou and executive media director, FCB China
1997 Media director, MediaCom China and Hong Kong
1996 Media buying director, JWT Shanghai
1993 Broadcast director, MediaCom China and Hong Kong (Grey China)
1992 Media planner, Grey Hong Kong

Got a view?
Email [email protected]

This article was originally published in the 22 April 2010 issue of Media.