The guard is changing at the Golden Arches as longtime chief marketing and customer experience officer Tariq Hassan departs and is replaced by Alyssa Buetikofer. 

Currently chief marketing officer (CMO) of McDonald’s Canada, Buetikofer is a brand veteran who has held a variety of senior U.S. and global marketing positions for the Big Mac maker since 2011.  

She steps into the fast food chain’s U.S. marketing hot seat at a turbulent time for the business. 

In the final quarter of 2024, McDonald’s posted its biggest global sales decline since 2020. While U.S. sales returned to growth, they were still slow at 0.3%. According to internal data, though, 90% of the U.S. population visits the fast-food chain every year, showing its is still top of mind for diners.

In its homestead, marketing will hold the key to winning the “value wars” as McDonald’s competes with Taco Bell and Burger King in a race to the bottom to appeal to cash-strapped customers. 

The brand is also fending off the threat of GLP-1 weight loss drugs and criticism around its DEI policies. On top of this, it recently navigated an E.coli outbreak linked to its ingredients.

Lawrence Parnell, senior fellow for public relations and communications at the College of Professional Studies at George Washington University, says McDonald’s new CMO might want to start planning by resolving what not to do first—whether that’s saying no to cutting prices, or making no apologies for a change in corporate policy—to “arrive at a viable marketing comms approach that will resonate with the public and protect [the] brand.”

ADWEEK explores four business challenges Buetikofer will face in her new role, and some insight into how she might steer McDonald’s through them. 

1. Supersizing value

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