McDonald's CMO Exits, L'Oréal Bets on Serialised Stories

McDonald's just lost its top US marketer as sales slide — a sharp reminder of how fast CMO accountability has shifted. Plus, L'Oréal is quietly reinventing brand content, and Kraft Heinz's recovery story has a catch. In this episode: McDonald's US CMO has stepped down during a period of declining sales, highlighting the growing pressure on marketing leaders to deliver direct commercial results rather than brand health metrics alone. L'Oréal is advancing a microdrama strategy that deliberately leads with serialised short-form storytelling over product messaging, inverting the traditional FMCG content model to compete for attention in scroll-driven environments. Kraft Heinz described its position as a 'solid foundation' for volume recovery but flagged that ongoing inflation and the potential need for further price increases remain active headwinds to winning shoppers back from own-label alternatives. The FMCG Marketing Daily is a concise briefing for FMCG and CPG marketers, brand managers and CMOs, hosted by Marco & Klara. New episode every day. Enjoying the show? A quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps other marketers find us. Also from Marco & Klara: The Digital Commerce Daily · The Health Marketing Daily