John Joonsoo Kim
[Mentor]
Marketing Executive at Skylark
John is a marketing executive with an impressive array of accomplishments across Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and now Skylark, the world's largest restaurant company. Having successfully launched multiple products and promotions including MyCokeRewards in Coca-Cola North America, to pioneering e-marketing and CRM in McDonald's Japan, to now renewing a brand portfolio of 24 leading restaurant brands under the Skylark banner, John has demonstrated the ability to quickly identify market opportunities and catalyze resources to create and capture previously untapped value.
Born in Japan, raised in the US, and having worked in Seoul, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo, John speaks Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, and English. He is currently based in Tokyo, where he first ran marketing for McDonald's Japan, the 2nd largest market for McDonald's in the world. With $6B in revenue and a $300 MM marketing budget, McD Japan is a dominant leader in the quick service restaurant industry in Japan.
Growing sales and guest counts year on year in a highly competitive and declining market resulted in highest ever sales and profits for McD Japan in 2011. John was recently recruited to run the largest investment of one of the world's leading private equity players. Revamping a portfolio of 24 restaurant brands with 87,000 employees and 347 million customers per year by leveraging world-class marketing thinking and practices is his current mission.
Key areas of expertise include marketing and menu strategy, brand portfolio reengineering, new product development, advertising and media strategy, business/consumer insight, instore merchandising, digital marketing, sponsorships and local marketing, brand design and new concept development. Marketing talent management and succession planning are also critical areas of expertise.