McDonald's Korea, Publicis executives hold 'double internship' program

By Kim Jae-heun

McDonald's Korea Chief Marketing Officer Kim Ki-won

McDonald's Korea Chief Marketing Officer Kim Ki-won and Publicis Groupe Korea Executive Creative Director Nahm Hye-ah have known each other for a long time since the beginning of their careers. Starting out as a copywriter and a brand marketer, they have been working together for the last 25 years advertising products of global firms like P&G, Coca-Cola and Powerade.

This year, they met again to hold a contest for an internship experience at both McDonald's Korea and Publicis Groupe Korea, a local branch of the global ad agency. The two female executives received applications for a month starting from Nov. 1 and they have selected three winners already.

“There have been marketing contests held by individual firms and agencies before, but this is the first time a global brand and global agency collaborated on one contest,” Nahm said.

“This unique collaboration between two global firms will increase the value of McDonald's social contribution program and win our customers' sympathy. The three winners will be given opportunities to work as interns for three months at McDonald's Korea and Publicis Groupe Korea each. This is a good chance not only for prospective marketers and advertisers, but also for jobseekers who are curious to find out what it's like to work at global companies,” Kim said.

Publicis Groupe Korea Executive Creative Director Nahm Hye-ah

McDonald's has three representative social programs: Ronald McDonald House Charities, the 'No Straw' campaign and Community Connection.

Ronald McDonald House Charity builds accommodations for the families of hospitalized pediatric patients who need to take care of their sick children at medical centers located far from their homes. Korea's very first Ronald McDonald House was established in Busan in October 2019.

McDonald's Korea also encourages customers to avoid plastic straws by using a lid with a hole on the side through which beverages can be sipped. This is to join the global environmental campaign of using less plastic materials.

The third program uses regional specialties here as part of its “Taste of Korea” project that both seeks mutual growth with local communities and discovers new menu items that can only be found in Korea.

This double internship program is also meaningful for McDonald's Korea and Publicis Groupe Korea as they celebrate the 27th anniversary of their business partnership. It is rare for a global firm to work for such a long time with an individual ad agency rather than its affiliate.

“I think McDonald's corporate culture to respect a private agency as a business partner helped build a solid partnership with us,” Nahm said.

“In addition, Publicis Groupe's efforts to take care of clients' businesses like they're their own built trust between the two and grew as strategic partners in the advertising field,” Kim said.

Kim has worked as a marketer at global companies like Coca-Cola and P&G, while Nahm built her career as a copywriter at Welcomm, Leo Burnett and now Publicis Groupe Korea.